Visiting Homeland
by lilaclily00
Summary: Lily is left behind as John and Matt go on their journey around Amestris. The way everything could go down, the discoveries they could make... The possibilities are endless- and they're all written in here. Modern AU, in a way? This is written assuming you have knowledge of both animes. Read "Family History" first.
1. Chapter 1

**It's here... *ominous music***

 **It also probably took longer than you guys were hoping for. ._.' But it's not (entirely) my fault! Things were kinda cray-cray for a while. We even stayed at someone else's apartment for 2 weeks where, with 2 loud and curious kids, it's sometimes (*coughusuallycough*) difficult to get privacy. I also wanted to get the chance to draw a new pic for this, and wasn't sure where my sketchbook went, but figured it'd pop up once we started taking things out of boxes at our new place.**

 **My mom figuratively sweatdropped when I asked her if she knew of its whereabouts. Turns out, even though I said I wanted to keep it, she probably threw the sketchbook away.**

 **So, I faked it with sticky-notes. I didn't think my new drawing would look as disproportional as the first, but it's even worse. T_T You'll figure out what's going on in it in a few chapters... Hopefully.**

 **Enough with that, already! *mentally slaps self***

 **OK, this is actually the important part, not rambling.** **While this is technically the sequel to "Family History" (which I suggest you at least skim over the last chapter of to remember what happened, cuz I'm not giving any reminders), I still also consider it a new story. It's a little different in a few ways, perhaps the most important things being that the chapters didn't all come out the same size, and it's still a work in progress. You guys need to help me out with what's gonna come next. Beyond what's happened in the chapters I already wrote, I know -2% of what's in the future. I might ask (what will seem like) random questions every once in a while to aid my writing, and I'm open to suggestions. They might not all actually be used, but they'll still help a lot. :3**

 **This first chapter is the shortest of them all, don't worry. And if you're confused by the end... GOOD. *Grumpy Cat face* Naw, just kidding. But I'm actually gonna be using a lot of theories I've thought up myself (that may or may not be explained later) that I'm _reeeeaaally_ hoping aren't too out there. Also, I don't remember the 2003 anime as well as the manga/Brotherhood, so if I mess up something small, roll with it. If it's so obvious it pains you to read it, _then_ tell me.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

 _Suddenly, everything was black._

 _Then, everything was white._

John blinked, cringing at the sudden brightness. He hovered his hand above his eyes to shade them while he adjusted. It was strange; it didn't seem like he was standing on anything (when did he stand up anyways?), but he wasn't just floating around either. There wasn't any sort of breeze, but it didn't seem he was in a closed room. Everything was totally still.

He finally could stop squinting, and glanced around. His breath caught when he realized his location. He felt a prickle on the back of his neck, warning him of something looming behind him. He slowly turned around to see a ginormous set of doors with a strange design of an upside-down tree etched in, the short shadow underneath the only sign that it was actually a few inches off the ground... if there really was a ground.

The Gate.

"We actually made it..." he softly whispered to himself in amazement- and a little fear.

He started when he heard a loud thump and creak come from the doors.

They were opening.

* * *

Matt gasped as he watched his own Gate slowly open towards him, giving off intense foreboding vibes. Without meaning to, he stepped back carefully a few inches.

 _Maybe this really_ was _a bad idea..._ He paused and frowned at his thought. _No. We made it this far. We will go through with this till the end._ He set his face into a determined expression as the doors reveal darkness within.

Pairs of wide purple eyes blinked open, all staring at him.

Black hands lunged for him, violently pulling him into the inky space. They hungrily surrounded his body. He heard the doors close again, but the sound seemed to be in the distance.

A few seconds later, however, the black hands let him go all at once, almost repelled by his skin. He couldn't understand what was whispered by the souls, but they seemed shocked... angry... _scared_.

He had no time to ponder on this because he was then _blasted_ with images and voices, filling his cranium with more knowledge than he could comprehend at one time- more than he could comprehend in his _life_ time! He grasped his head with his hands, screaming _horrifically_ because it hurt _so much_ _his head was going to EXPLODE!_

THE TORMENT WAS ENDLESS AND PAIN WAS IN EVERY MOLECULE- EVERY ATOM IN HIS HEAD AND HE _COULD NOT HANDLE IT_ _WHERE ARE YOU BROTHER SAVE ME FROM THIS TORTURE_ _HE WAS SURE HE WAS DYING_ WHAT IS ALL THIS INFORMATION WORTH IF HE WOULDN'T BE ALIVE TO USE IT _HE REFUSED TO DIE A SENSELESS DEATH_ BUT IT HURT SO HORRIBLY HE COULD BARELY THINK _THE ANSWERS TO EVERYTHING WERE CRAMMED INTO HIS BRAIN_ _COME OUT OF THIS ALIVE DON'T YOU DARE DIE!_

Both an eternity and a second later, it was over.

He saw a flash of a face with purple eyes gaze at him and whisper, "What _are_ you?"

Darkness once again.

He dropped onto solid ground, but didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience.

* * *

 _{_ _Matt Alphonse Elric, AKA Al:_ _If you'd read "Family History", you should know by now who the heck this is. 15 years old. Gray eyes and light brown (almost blond) hair kept short in side part. He and his older brother have better synchronization than Anna and Hans in "Love Is An Open Door". He is the sweeter, more polite one.}_

Matt was startled awake. He sat up quickly and groaned at the headache the action caused. He then chuckled ruefully. _I'll never complain about my head hurting after going through something like that._ He blinked and frowned to himself. _Wait... I actually remember the Gate?_

He looked around and his eyes settled on his older brother next to him, who sighed in relief. "Good, you're awake."

 _{_ _John Edward Elric, AKA Ed:_ _16 years old. Light brown eyes and messy blond hair. The older brother who would not be able to start friendships without the younger around. Would never admit to actually watching_ Frozen. _You like him once you get to know him.}_

"Are we...?" Al scanned their surroundings, and he didn't recognize any of them.

Ed grinned and slowly nodded. "We made it. We're in Amestris."

* * *

 ***flails arms and makes weird freaking-out noises* ...You probably actually expected the story to go this way, though. XD**

 **However, if you think this is gonna be the average story, _au contraire, mademoiselle!_** **(No hablo francés, si querías saber.) What makes this different from not just "Family History" but other fics (I hope ;-;) starts next chapter! So stick around! :D Please! D:**

 **You have no idea how anxious I've been about the result of posting this- even more than those crackish!fics I usually put (which you may request one, as long as it's not a huge list of words to pick from, that's scary to look at!). That says a lot. I don't want my friends to run away because I've suddenly sucked at writing something decent. ;-; And I don't want to disappoint those who really liked "Family History" when this doesn't live up to its (small) legacy. I'm pretty sure the ANs for this first chapter have ended up longer than the actual chapter. That's how anxious I am!**

 **Okay, I'll leave you guys alone now to decide if you want to follow, review, or just go back to archives.**

 **Happy Summer Break! K bai!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Whenever I look back to the reviews you guys have sent me, I'm like " _Huehuehue,_ I have all these people wrapped around my little pinky finger!" Then I read the next chapter of a story like _A Boy Named Ed_ that has at least 740 reviews... and suddenly I'm a little more humble. *apologizing blush***

 **But I'm so relieved you guys are excited for this! At the prospect of doing a sequel I'd been like "Aw great, how am I supposed to do this?!" but as I started to think of a few ideas I started feeling more pumped up for this story.**

 **If you wanted to see what happens to Ed and Al... TOO BAD! That's gonna wait for next chapter. *evil grin* Why? Because now Lily (*coughmecough*) is officially a main character (I actually mention members of my family in here!) and leads for whatever happens on _our_ side of the Gate.**

 **If you didn't reread the last chapter of "Family History", I highly suggest you do so now, because this follows immediately after what Lily and Megan had been doing.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Lily's mom was surprised when the moment she drove up to the school after classes, her daughter hurriedly jumped in the car and told her to go to her friends' house first. She'd never dropped her off there before, but Lily had pointed out where it was, since they passed by it every day.

She complied to her daughter's wishes, since she could tell there was a reason. Anxiety was written all over the teen's face and body language. Even the way the girl kept pushing her glasses back up her nose showed her worry.

 _{_ _Lily:_ _15 years old. Dark brown eyes and hair, which is wavy-curly down to her waist. Wears glasses. So obsessed with FMA it's probably unhealthy. Has a lot of contradicting aspects in her personality- perhaps the most surprising being that she didn't want the Elrics to attempt alchemy. People either don't know anything about her or think she's a funny, quirky friend.}_

The car wasn't even parked at the house before Lily started to snap her seatbelt off. She nearly leaped out the vehicle the moment she could and ran to the front door, knocking on it harder than usual and bouncing on the balls of her feet as she waited for an answer.

After a few seconds, they saw a girl with short brown hair circle quickly around the house from the backyard towards the front porch. She pushed Lily away from the door and stabbed something small into the lock.

"Uh, who are you?" Lily asked, thrown off guard (and a bit offended) by the girl who seemed to be breaking into the house.

"None of your beeswax," the girl replied, as if she just said it automatically to that question by now. She continued to pick the lock.

Lily heard the girl's voice and realized it sounded like the person who had called her earlier. "Are you Megan? I'm Lily!"

 _{_ _Megan Alyssandra Elric:_ _Younger sister of Ed and Al. 10 years old. Light brown eyes and hair cut in a long bob. Best known for being the only person in this story to have a British (instead of 'Murican) accent. Apparently is mean to her brothers, but recently showed concern for them when she believed they were in danger. Has a secret love of cupcakes and grasshoppers.}_

Megan glanced back and saw that it really was her brothers' friend- she'd seen the pictures on the Internet. "Nice to meet you, but can I please have a bit of room? I'm still trying to open the door."

Lily blinked and nodded, moving away a bit to let the girl (who was trying to look cool and calm instead of worried) do her work. She supposed the 10-year-old didn't have a key, so therefore had to break in.

Clearly, she'd had experience in this, for the door opened just a few seconds later. Megan stuffed the lock-pick, which turned out to just be a bobby pin, back into her hair and strode inside. (In the back of her mind, Lily hoped she could be taught how to do that someday.)

"Follow me." Megan ran through the hallway, leading the older girl to the basement. They made it down in record time, and the light was turned on to reveal...

Chalk drawn on the cement floor, nothing (and no one) more.

"Wh-where'd they go?" Megan fumbled, clearly confused.

Lily felt a shot of fear and awe. She stepped to the chalk circle. She noticed part of the middle was hastily rubbed out, along with some more chalk a foot or so to the side of the drawing. She didn't recognize the symbols inscribed in the circle, but she didn't have to. She noticed a few kitchen knives stabbed into the floor (how'd they manage to do that?) on the edge of the circle, reminding her of May Chang.

She blinked, and inspected more the drawings, including the rubbed-out ones. It wasn't super obvious, but she thought she could see lines that resembled stars, and concluded they'd done alkahestry- or invented a fusion of alchemy and alkahestry.

"That's a little genius..." Lily couldn't help the small smile that came (not knowing she'd just complimented the author). They'd found a loophole! If they really were able to do this, then, while they couldn't do alchemy, it was possible for people here to use the purification arts!

She paused again, though, and played back part of her thought. _If they really were able to do this...!_

A whimper fell out her mouth and she studied the overall room more. She didn't know what she was looking for, but maybe she'd figure it out once she found it.

"Lily?..." She looked behind her to see Megan holding a paper a little shakily. She slowly stood and took the paper from the girl, then read what it said. It was a letter... written in Al's handwriting.

The younger girl scratched the side of her head and paced, trying to make sense of the situation. "This is _impossible_! I heard them down here! I saw all of the crazy light! They couldn't just _disappear!_ " She gestured incredulously to the paper now in Lily's hands. "They wrote a goodbye letter, even! _This_ is what they were planning?! There's no such thing as- what did they do, _teleport?!_ That isn't real! What did they _do_ , and _where_ did they _go?!_ "

Megan paused in her rambling to glare at the other brunette. " _You_ know what they were doing."

Lily gaped, then returned the steely gaze. "And I told them not to!" she blurted angrily back. "Do you think I wanted them to leave?! Do you think I wanted... _this?!_ " She shook the paper in her hand, accidentally crumpling it a little. "Do you..." She couldn't finish the sentence. She dropped to the ground, crossing her legs at the same time so she sat neatly. She supported her elbows on her knees and rubbed her face with her hand.

After a few minutes of silence, she sniffled and glanced up to Megan. She couldn't really determine how the other felt, for her expression was blank.

"Will they really come back?" the youngest Elric asked softly.

"...I know they want to, and I know that if they managed to go they could be able to return the same way, but..." Lily's breath hitched, and she realized a few tears were coming out. "They might not be able to..."

She locked eyes with Megan, even as her vision blurred in the tears. _"They might not come back!"_

* * *

A few hours later, Lily was called to come to the Elric house. The parents were home, and wanted an explanation. She came with a few manga books and the little physical evidence she had collected in her own room (but then found more when she searched the boys' rooms).

They met in the Elric living room. Lily's mom sat beside her daughter, despite not knowing what was going on. Her being there was a small comfort for the curly-headed girl, but also made her even more nervous at the same time.

She decided the first day they met was the starting point of all these events. She tried to recall as much as she could of what went down throughout the time she knew the brothers. She stuttered and backtracked several times, but seemed to get at least most of the information across to the family.

"So, after school, I asked my mom to drop me off here. Megan took me to the basement, and we found... they were gone." She dropped her gaze to her lap to show she finished talking. She took a shaky breath as she waited for a response.

"...Do you believe her?" Lily looked up to see that the Elric mother had directed the question to her own mom.

Though probably bewildered by everything said, the loyal and trusting woman defended her child. "My daughter is an honest girl. Anything she tells you is the truth."

"Or _thinks_ is the truth." The Elrics' daughter propped herself against a couch armrest, directing a glare to the opposing family.

"What do you mean?" Her father looked to her, raising his eyebrow.

"Have you paid any attention? She is absolutely mad!" Megan tightened her fist. "She said so herself. She spends half her life fantasizing about this other world in a _book._ She's concocted this strange story and convinced herself it's real!" She gave Lily an expectant look. "Please, tell us where they _really_ are."

"I'm serious! Do I not look serious?!" Lily glanced around at the different faces, noting the worried looks from the parents. "This was weird for me at first too, but the proof is there!"

She screamed in frustration in her head that they clearly didn't want to believe her. What, did she have to _prove_ herself? Prove this wasn't all just a really long and complicated joke?

"...Those guys are my friends. My best friends, basically. And I..." Tears came out again. "...Don't want anything to happen to them..."

"Then tell us the truth already!" Megan shouted fiercely, surprising her parents. They'd never really seen much of their daughter besides the cute part of her.

"I did!" Lily whined back, burying her face in her hands.

"Liar!"

She wanted to retort with something like, _"You just can't accept that sometimes fiction is real!"_ but didn't. She knew from past experiences with her kinda-hotheaded dad that it was better to not continue to argue like her sister often would.

"Say something!" The youngest continued to yell, making everyone flinch at her tone.

"I think we're done here," Lily's mom said quietly as she stood up, and she helped her daughter off the couch too.

Lily thought the moms might've had a minute of small chat as they prepared to leave the house, but she wasn't really paying attention. She was lost in her swirling thoughts... and her thankfulness to her mom for letting her escape Megan for the moment.

* * *

 **You feel bad enough when you make bad things happen to characters in your stories, but it's a whole nuther thing when it feels like you're torturing yourself. o.o**

 **I think I accidentally alluded to KarmaHope up there. *ehehe...* You know, when I read her first work, I think that seriously like, up to halfway of the entire thing, I thought Kai's name was Kamryn, not Karmyn. .-. I kinda feel they both fit, though. *shrug***

 **Here's where things change. Whenever I (or maybe a reviewer) think of another direction this sequel could've gone, an alternate will be made. Thus, I will address my problems from the AN in "Family History"! :D They vary in length and genre, and are not always in every chapter (after all, there wasn't one in the first, right?). It's different from _ABNE Infinite Possibilities,_ but I still give that credit for both being awesome and for getting this thing going. :3**

 **This... is actually not my favorite alternate. It's not the best-written one. And definitely not the most positive one. ._.' Oh well. I feel I need to acknowledge that things could have really ended at the transmutation.**

 **Happy Summer Break! K bai!**

* * *

Alternative (Ending) A:

" _YOU HAVE TO PAY THE TOLL!"_

 _Then, the light quickly died down. And she could hear nothing._

Megan gasped when the light faded, and she didn't hear her brothers again. She tried one more time to kick the door down, but it was to no avail. She was too small to make a dent. With a frustrated grunt, she ran away from the backdoor to the front, which she already knew how to open (having had to do so once before). She didn't really realize that there was already someone standing in front of the door, being too focused on the task at hand.

"Uh, who are you?"

"None of your beeswax," she replied automatically to the somewhat-familiar voice. She stuck her tongue out a bit as she felt herself get close to opening the lock.

"Are you Megan? I'm Lily!"

She blinked and glanced behind her. _Huh. She got here faster than I thought._ "Nice to meet you, but can I please have a bit of room? I'm still trying to open the door."

Seconds later, she succeeded and let herself in, knowing that the other girl was behind her.

"Follow me." They ran around the house and down into the basement. She turned on the light, and...

"OH MY GO-"

* * *

 _Suddenly, everything was black._

 _Then, everything was white._

Then, everything was red.

The boys drifted in and out of consciousness for a few minutes. They were woozy from blood loss and a traumatic event they'd never remember. Ed was the first to feel like he needed to wake up...

He groaned as he blinked his eyes, wincing even though it was not very bright in the basement. He slowly tried to lift his head, and the sight he was met with was horrific.

Megan was already gone when he let out the most terrified scream of his life.

 _WHY IS THERE SO MUCH BLOOD?!_

He noticed subtle movement next to him, and he gasped in fear. He shakily tried to move away, but stopped when he recognized brown hair. He sighed in relief that it was just Al, but then realized... He was covered in blood too...!

"Brother..." The younger groaned, having been woken up more by hearing the older's panicking. He drowsily blinked, and reached out. His arm seemed heavy from exhaustion, but it was also much lighter at the same time. He couldn't feel much on his limb besides wetness.

He started when he heard Ed scream again, now more directed towards him. "What's... wrong?..." he asked softly. It was incredibly difficult to think at the moment.

He furrowed his brows a bit; he was sure he'd reached his hand to his brother, so why couldn't he see said hand? Slowly, he lifted his arm higher, and it took his brain a moment to register... everything below his upper arm was gone.

His heart skipped a beat as he had a few seconds of clarity. _IT'S ALL GONE?!_ He hurriedly brought out his other arm (dropping his back onto the ground with an 'oomph' at the same time), to see that it had his left elbow, but his lower arm and hand were missing!

Al made his own shriek as he stared at his missing limbs.

"...Rebound..." He gasped as he looked to his brother, who had whispered the dreaded word. His brother also had clothes soaked in red, but more collected at the lower part of his body. Both held their gaze at his knees. He had pants on, so his legs couldn't be seen... but there was an obvious spot where flesh ended and the fabric was empty.

Both legs from the knee down were gone.

"It didn't work..." Ed and Al stared into each other's eyes, tired and terrified.

Alphonse promptly fainted. Edward, after deciding he just couldn't stand the sight of so much blood, passed out soon after.

They didn't hear the footsteps of two girls go down the stairs, flick the light-switch, and scream at the gory sight.

* * *

Alt. A: Second transmutation failed. They met Truth, who took away Ed's legs and Al's arms for some messed-up reason, didn't let them through the Gate, and just plopped them back into their basement. They forgot the encounter because of the trauma. When Lily and Megan found them, they were then rushed to the hospital. After Lily explained everything to the whole Elric family, they decided to prepare to move out of town while the boys recovered. Ed later got prosthetics, though Al was still indecisive. Lily got to visit them every once in a while at their new house over the next years, but blamed herself for their misfortune for quite a while. Ryan lived, but ended up in a similar state to the ones who tried to save her. Ed and Al's parents returned Sensei's money to him without a word.


	3. Chapter 3

**I'm glad you guys liked the alternate, at least a little bit. It's a weight off my shoulders! *drops watermelon off back***

 **There's nothing I can really say here without spoiling the rest of the chapter, so I'll just leave you alone (WHAT? A short AN from lilaclily00? Madness!) to (hopefully) enjoy the next 1,625 words! :3**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Al gaped at his smiling brother. _We're really in Amestris?!_

Ed nodded, as if he'd heard his sibling's thought. "Even better, we made it with all the stuff in our backpacks."

He held a hand out to Al and pulled him onto his feet. The elder adjusted the backpack on his shoulders as the younger dusted himself off. They stuck their heads out into the traffic on the sidewalk, for they'd somehow landed at the mouth of a small alley. Alphonse could immediately spot how his brother knew where they were- little flags and other decorations surrounded them on the street and storefronts. The nation's colors were obviously red, green, and gold. The paper taped on the wall next to him showed that the modern Amestrian flag was bicolor, with the top half deep maroon-ish and the bottom half forest green, and in the middle was a white, gold-trimmed, dragon-looking-thing.

"I wonder if it's Christmas," he heard Ed mutter jokingly.

"I don't know, but it's still festivities of some sort," Al shrugged. It explained not just the elaborate decorating, but the hordes of people flowing in mainly one direction on the sidewalks, maybe hurrying to a parade or other event.

With all their stuff on their backs, both self-consciously stepped out into the open and followed the current of citizens. Ed took to studying the people, while Al looked around at the architecture.

Ed noticed two things immediately: none of the women wore pants, and no one had jeans. (They were in a city setting, so he thought that maybe at more rural places denim would be common.) It was actually a little strange to not see any girls with pants, like back in the US; instead, almost every single one of them had a dress or skirt, usually ending at their knees, except for the occasional teenager who had shorts instead.

For most of their lives, they'd lived in an area where there was quite the variety of ethnicities, so it took longer for him to catch on to the fact that it was the same here. The melting pot in Amestris seemed to contain Amestrian, Ishbalan, and Xingese. After all, he'd found blue eyes, red eyes, almond-shaped eyes, and other different features on all the average citizens. It was really cool to see, and he was sure Lily would've been excited about it since she herself was mixed.

He wondered if it was the current fad or what, but he also noticed everyone had lots of hair, at least long enough to tie back...

Al smiled as he took in the view of the vintage, ivy-covered buildings. None of them looked modernized at all except for the business signs in front. It made him wonder how old they really were and how they stayed in such great shape. He knew that in some things their technology actually excelled over that of his homeworld, but, since he couldn't tell at the moment, thought that perhaps he would only see tech _inside_ of the stores. The mashing of old and new reminded him of pictures he'd seen of Italy, and England, and... What was that other place? Oh yeah!

"I think Lily would say-" both commented to each other at the same time, pausing when they realized the other spoke too. One looked away for a moment in embarrassment while the other coughed awkwardly.

"Wh-what were you going to say?"

"O-oh, that the buildings look like the historical districts in Mexico Lily described to us," Al blushed.

"I was going to say that she'd call that guy's hair fabulous," Ed chuckled as he motioned discreetly toward a guy sitting outside a small café on the other side of the street who had graceful wavy hair falling far past his shoulders.

"It _is_ pretty fabulous," the younger agreed, trying to cover up his smile.

"Ooh, what about _that_ guy?" Ed said as one of the few people walking in the opposite direction came closer. It was some guy who had a blond hairstyle that seemed like a mix between pompadour, mullet, and some other thing... They couldn't tell just what was going on, but knew it wasn't good.

"I don't even know what you can call that!" he whispered, laughing so hard behind the hand covering his mouth no noise came out.

They were so busy trying to sneakily stare at the strange stranger that they accidentally ran into the person in front of them.

 _{_ _Rillie:_ _Just turned 18. Red eyes, relatively light skin, and gray hair in a fishtail braid running all the way down her back. Currently wearing a dress with a green top and white skirt covered in red cherries, accessorized only with a gold bracelet; showing her patriotism, but not in a flashy manner. She's usually really nice to strangers, but hasn't exactly been in the best mood today.}_

Said person turned her head to glare at the two. When she saw that the offenders looked surprised and sorry, her red eyes softened. She gave them a silent "It's okay" smile and returned to just walking.

The Elrics sighed in relief and quickly decided that they'd save people-watching for when they weren't in danger of angering anyone else.

Not to be stalkers, but, seeing as that girl (who looked about their age, maybe a bit older) seemed to actually know where she was going, and they, uh, didn't, they sort of followed.

Like they'd predicted, there were some events going on. She (unknowingly) led them to a park that had a small fair, where at the middle of all the stalls towered a live stage. They heard a song playing that sounded suspiciously like K-pop, but slightly different... maybe more like K-alternative, if that was a genre? It was actually very pretty and cool.

The song finished, and they heard the singer say into the microphone as a small crowd clapped, "Thank you everyone! Happy Independence Day!"

' _Independence Day?'_ the brothers mouthed to each other in confusion.

"I guess something happened after the fact," Al whispered with an unsure look.

As if to confirm, they heard an old man ranting to someone else. "-I was alive when Amestris was under Drachman control! You youngsters do not understand war! Be grateful we haven't been in a major war since then-"

"SCREW YOU, DRACHMA!" an obnoxious drunk guy overlapped, holding his beer in the air.

 _{_ _This Guy:_ _Has enjoyed drinking and smoking far before he was of legal age. The classic non-example of a good, responsible citizen. Rillie always had quite the dislike for guys like these, but, sadly, must deal with them because they were friends with her brother.}_

"Put that down!" They glanced over to the girl they'd followed, who was now a few feet away from them, and actually started scolding the guy. "You know there's a lot of kids here, right?!"

"C'mon, Rillie! Loosen up! It's a holiday!"

"I can't whenever I see _you!_ " She seemed to just give up and turned away from him with a deep sigh. She then blinked when she saw a pair of brothers that looked familiar, looking around as if they were lost. Despite giving off the "nervous newcomer" vibe, she could also see amazement at their surroundings in their facial expressions.

She warily stepped over to them. "Excuse me?" Both jumped and looked to her, then simultaneously their faces flushed. She wondered if they were twins. "Are you following me?..."

"U-uh, kinda... B-but it's b-because-!"

"We're tourists," the other jumped in to explain when the first clearly struggled. "You looked like you live here, so..."

She blinked, then made a sound of understanding and nodded. "Okay, that worried me for a moment," she replied with a short chuckle. She then looked both up and down. Both wore clothes that seemed casual, but were a bit different from what she was used to; a foreign country with that style didn't come to mind, but that didn't really matter. Their appearances and their attitudes confirmed to her they were telling the truth.

"We didn't even know there was a whole festival thing going on," the one that was shorter but acted older added to his explanation, then both laughed nervously.

Rillie felt a small smile come on. She'd just been _waiting_ for someone she could drag- no, _take_ to her favorite places, and these boys seemed really nice, sweet, and (most importantly) in need of a guide.

"What're your names?"

"People call us Ed and Al," the taller one said, pointing to his brother then himself.

"I'm Rillie," she said with a smirk. "I'll show you guys around!" She headed straight to the first destination in mind, glancing behind her every once in a while to make sure the two were catching up.

* * *

 **I know Independence Day usually isn't really used that way most of the time (because Amestris was already an independent nation before) but... if Drachmans really are super ruthless and found a way to invade while avoiding Briggs at some point... Hide yo kids, hide yo wife. ._.'**

 **I don't think I've ever seen a story where someone tried to imagine modern Amestris. It was always early 1900s Amestris, modern Earth, or maybe even 1900s Earth- but not modern Amestris. So I had to use all my thinking cells. There's really a lot of ways the country could've gone after a century, but I went for the coolest one. I actually have reasons for some of the things I imagined, and if you're curious about it, go ahead and ask! :3**

 **If you're wondering, the girl with the braid on the cover for this story is Rillie. New character, yo!~ :D ;D I looked up German names and I liked this one, so bam. XD The girl at the bottom (of which we can only see the outline of strangely-drawn wavy hair and a crudely-penned extended left arm) is Lily, saying "Guys, come back!..."**

 **Can you suggest the best time to put up new chapters? I'm torn between a weekday or the weekend... And any suggestions for a more interesting summary are totally welcome too! Please and thank you! :3**

 **Happy Summer Break! (I think I'm gonna shut up about it in the next update, don't worry XD) K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) B:

 _He looked around and his eyes settled on his older brother next to him, who sighed in relief. "Good, you're awake."_

" _Are we...?" He scanned their surroundings, and he didn't recognize any of them._

Al felt a shiver go throughout his body, too. The biting air seemed quite reminiscent to winter in their hometown when the snow got bad. He crossed his arms and rubbed his hands against his arms in the attempt to warm up, not having at the moment the most appropriate clothing.

"Not exactly," Ed replied slowly, his breath visible in the cold air. He helped Al off of the ground with an uneasy look. "We're not in Amestris... We're in Drachma."

* * *

Alt. B: The transmutation was successful; however, even if you manage to make it to a new world, that doesn't mean you can always aim which country you'll land in. The Elrics ended up in Drachma, the Fullmetal Alchemist version of Russia.


	4. Chapter 4

**Oh gosh. This was originally the 5th chapter, but then I realized that the 4th returned to Ed and Al and I'm supposed to be switching in-between the two sides of the Gate. I guess I'd written it and been like "Eh, I'll just write the thing from Lily's perspective to put before this later," then totally forgot. ._.' But hey! I'd been stressing about this same issue in a later chapter, so I guess it's all fixed now! :3 We have to skip to Alternate E, though, and see C and D later.**

 **IMPORTANT!** **Presenting lilaclily00's first (and hopefully last):**

 _ **Create a Country! :D**_

 **No need for the whole country's details, I just _need_ a name. Basically, a name for a country that's off the map because it's farther away from Amestris. (It's always bugged me how we only know the names of the immediate surrounding countries and that's it!) It has to sound like it'd fit in the FMA universe and that it was built upon the idea of freedom for all [white males], even if it doesn't still uphold that virtue after a few hundred years. :3 (I think you probably get what parallel I'm speaking of. XD) I've got an idea for the name that might work, but I'd seriously appreciate it if you sent in a made-up country name too. Even just the beginning letters or something could work! Thank you! :D**

 **Now, this is an alternate plot that I also felt needed to be addressed, and I'll honestly say it's probably KarmaHope's fault. XD It's long enough to be a chapter, though, so it's all by itself! We return to the main plot next chapter. :3**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) E:

 _"Look... We can tell you everything you want to know at lunch. Okay?"_

Lily rarely missed, much less skipped, school. So it rubbed her the wrong way to even consider doing it at that very moment.

But who _wouldn't_ consider it if their friends told them just minutes before they were going to attempt something that should be impossible and disappear off the face of the Earth?

Preventing something that dangerous felt more important than staying to learn about cell production.

She gulped, shut her eyes for a moment, then finally decided. She quickly packed away her pencil and notebook and hurried out the classroom, apologizing profusely to her biology teacher on the way.

* * *

She paced around on the sidewalk, waiting for her mom to pick her up. Even though the school was relatively pretty close to the Elric's house, she figured it would be a bit faster by car than walking, if there wasn't anyone else on the road. Plus, her mom would probably worry less about her if she didn't walk. She didn't want her poor mom to be more alarmed than she already was.

The minivan finally drove up, and she quickly threw herself into the passenger seat, hoping the driver would go faster than usual so she could catch the brothers on time.

Upon arriving to the house, she quickly told her mom to stay, but turn off the car to save gas, and leaped out the door to the porch. She knocked hard and jiggled the door knob to the entrance, but it didn't budge. After a few seconds, she ran to the side of the house and found there was no fence around the backyard. She hoped their house was similar to her own and ran around to see if there was an unlocked back door.

Lily tried the sliding door in the back, which firmly held its place. She then found a stairwell that led to the basement- indeed, their house was set up the same as hers. She went down the stairs quickly and tried this door. _Dang it, they've locked all of them! What the heck do I do?!_

She jumped upon feeling vibrations in her pocket. Someone was calling her. She suspected it might've been her anxious mom, but saw that it was actually some other number she'd never seen before. She sometimes didn't answer unknown callers, but felt it was important this time.

"Hello?"

 _"Hello? Is this Lily?"_

"Yeah..."

 _"This is Megan, John and Matt's younger sister."_

"What, really?" she blurted in surprise.

 _"Yes."_ She heard what she thought to be the girl shifting her phone's position closer to her mouth, for she then whispered: _"Do you know if my brothers are doing something they shouldn't?"_

Lily frowned deeply, not liking to be reminded again of the current situation. "Yeah. I'm actually at their house now to try to stop them, but all the doors are locked."

She heard something unintelligible that was possibly a curse. _"Great,"_ she said sarcastically. _"I'm on my way."_

"Okay! Thank you!" She sighed as she hoped Megan would arrive quickly, but then suddenly remembered... Shouldn't she be in freaking _England?_ "Wait, how long is it going to take for you to get here?" she asked carefully.

 _"5 or 10 minutes."_

Lily blinked. _Huh._ She then gulped. What if that wasn't soon enough? "Anything I can do meanwhile?" She mentally added, _'In case you don't get here in time?'_

 _"Let's see... You can try to pick the lock open if you can find this little thing by the plants in the backyard. It's supposed to be a hook for a wall, but it's worked for opening a few of the doors. Good luck."_ Megan hung up.

Lily stared at the phone for a second, then stuffed it into her pocket again and searched for the object spoken of. It took a few minutes, but she actually found it: a little metal stick kinda in the shape of a cane 'bout 4 inches big. She proceeded to stick it into the basement door's knob and try to figure out how to open it that way. She was there for a minute or two in deep concentration.

"LILY!" She jumped as she suddenly heard her name yelled. She looked around in alarm, then realized it came from somewhere above her. She looked up to find a panting brown-headed girl looking down to her from the backyard.

"Come on! I'll try opening the front door!" Megan shouted before running off again. Lily pulled her makeshift lock pick out and sprinted up the stairwell to the front door again.

She found the younger girl already working at the lock with something else, but she quickly passed the hook too. Within a minute, she got the door open.

"Do your parents not have a security system?" Lily asked skeptically as they entered. _That was way too easy._

"I know how to hack into it if necessary, but it actually broke a few days ago. They've been waiting for a new system to be installed."

Lily nodded, pleased by the convenience, but then frowned when she glanced over her shoulder and spotted her mom, camping out in the car, probably really confused and worried. She gave a shy wave in the woman's direction and then hurriedly ran into the house to catch up with Megan, who had burst in without a warning.

Just a second after the indoor entrance to the basement was opened, the girls gasped. There was a blue glow leaking to the bottom steps. They quietly sneaked down the stairs as fast as they could, the younger curious and the older scared.

They reached about halfway down the stairs when the light faded out and now they could hear two voices cheering.

 _"Brother, that was so cool!"_

 _"Yeah! But let's get the other one going now, before anyone can get in here."_

Lily's eyes widened and she didn't care about sneaking anymore. "Wait- STOP!" she yelled as she suddenly leaped down the stairs, passing Megan who had been in front of her.

 _"Lily!"_ she heard Matt blurt out in surprise.

 _"AL! DO IT NOW!"_

"NO!" Both girls shouted as they ran to the basement floor.

 _"Lily, stay back!"_ Al, who still could not be seen by the brunette, warned, but not in time.

The moment her foot touched the final step, the boys' hands had slapped the circle.

"Stop it, now!" Lily ordered as she faced the newbie-alchemists, not daring to get any closer. The blue light began again, even brighter. Now everyone had to talk louder because of the transmutation's zapping.

"It's too late!" Ed shouted.

"What are you doing?!" A fourth voice interrupted. The youngest Elric stomped towards the brothers, who were in the middle of the basement next to the source of the light show.

"Megan?!" Ed and Al gasped as their sister came closer. The moment of shock disappeared, and in came frantic urgency.

"GET AWAY!" Ed gestured with one hand for her to move back, keeping the other planted on the chalk circle. The transmutation's light was more aggressive and getting a few tinges of purple.

"PLEASE!" Al pleaded, looking to both his sibling and his horror-stricken friend.

Lily suddenly sprinted forward and hastily grabbed Megan's arm in an attempt to pull her away from the alchemy.

The bobbed girl refused to move. "Stop this now, idiots!"

"They can't! It's already started! You might get sucked in!" Lily argued. She cursed her weak arms as she struggled to move Megan away from the danger.

The 10-year-old was starting to show a bit of hesitation in her face, now that she saw the blue light act more ominous, but still resisted. She yelled again for her brothers to halt whatever this was.

"Stop being stubborn!" Lily growled at the other girl. Her instincts were telling her _'MOVE ALREADY OR YOU'LL DIE!'_ ...but she also couldn't just run away if the others didn't either.

She knew there was only seconds left.

She stepped in front of Megan and kicked her down- hard. This caused the girl to be caught off guard and actually fall down. Lily took this to her advantage to drag the girl away.

"OW!" Megan shrieked, glaring at the teen who had lifted her legs to drag her on the floor. In anger and self-defense, she kicked harshly back. Lily stumbled and released the girl's legs.

The moment Megan had scooched back and sat up, there was a final flash of purple.

It was almost as if an invisible line had been drawn as to who would be affected by the transmutation... and it ran in between Lily and Megan.

Lily saw a millisecond where dozens of black lines reached up, radiating out of the chalk circle.

Then just black.

* * *

Lily grimaced as she was blinded by white. She squinted in the brightness as she looked around, and gasped when she immediately recognized her surroundings. She was in Limbo. She even knew it was the Limbo of the first anime instead of in the manga, due to the design on the huge Gate towering over her and the fact there was no Truth. _I'd actually prefer if this was Brotherhood; though Truth's a butt, things seemed a little less messed-up in that version..._

 _Wait, why am I worrying about that?! I shouldn't be here at all! I wanna go home!_

She wished this was just a dream with all her might, but she knew... This was too different from her usual dreams. She could study the palms of her hands without lines moving around, and she could think clearly like when she was awake- well, think as clearly as someone currently flipping out could.

She yelped when she suddenly heard the Gate open. She stepped back in fear and glanced around, searching for another exit she knew wasn't there. _I need to get out of here, NOW!_

Her futile hoping did not prevent the pair of wooden doors from making a thump as they finished swinging open on their invisible hinges.

Purple eyes blinked open from within the door. She distanced herself from the creatures, too afraid to make contact.

She didn't know how it happened, but she was sure the Gate itself moved towards her when she didn't come forward herself.

Lily whimpered as she realized she was just close enough to the doors to be in reach of the black arms that wanted to pull her in. Now knowing that running wouldn't do anything, she closed her eyes tight and waited for the inevitable.

...

... _?_

Several seconds later, she hesitantly opened her eyes to see what happened. To her surprise, no black hands were on her. They stopped just an inch away from her skin. They quickly retracted into the Gate again, and all the pairs of purple eyes no longer stared at her in curiosity and hunger. They _glared._

Or blinked wide open in disbelief.

Despite how dark it was, she could actually see the Gate Babies shifting around, leaving a space in the middle of the black. They cramped themselves as far away as they could from her, if she ever planned to walk into the Gate.

She stared, not even knowing how to react. So... was she supposed to force herself to just prance around in the freaking Gate if she wasn't dragged in?! Was there really no other way out of here?!

She looked around at all the white surrounding her. Yep. She had no choice.

She breathed in and out deeply multiple times, preparing physically and mentally. She knew she could gain nothing from delaying this.

She finally stepped into the Gate.

It was so dark... She'd never been in so much darkness. Not just that, her balance was totally thrown off. She couldn't tell if she was on ground, or where was up and down. The only things in sight were the pairs of unnaturally-colored eyes, that were empty and soulless... and yet so filled with emotion towards her. None moved any closer to her.

She knew they wanted bodies so badly... So did they not want hers? Was there something _wrong_ with her? Was that a good or bad thing?

Goosebumps formed on her skin, just from knowing that she was being watched so intently. It was almost more unsettling than if they'd grabbed her like leeches like they were _supposed_ to.

Strips of pictures, similar to movie reels, suddenly flew past her. Lily gasped, surprised that she was actually able to see and interpret everything going on in the separate pictures even though they sped by ridiculously fast. She reached out to one, and the reel disintegrated as it hit her hand, and she could feel the _knowledge_ her skin was soaking up. But she was not overwhelmed. Perhaps it was because she was not wrapped in black arms and just walking along at her own pace.

She saw the faces of her family, friends, and favorite characters. The portraits that were unfamiliar at first quickly became familiar when she touched her hand to their pictures. She found herself both learning of the past of different countries- and worlds- and rediscovering her own memories. She gained information that would've once been far beyond her capacity. She felt happiness, sadness, frustration, helplessness, and _power_ with the new information absorbed into her brain.

There was a light at the end of the tunnel (since when did this turn into a tunnel?). Both in relief and disappointment that this enlightening experience was almost over, she ran her hand through one last strip and let the light come.

She suddenly remembered the reality she might've been leaving behind. Her mom, dad, sister... She'd never been away from all of them besides that one week in summer camp. She'd miss them horribly.

But... she felt peace.

Wherever she ended up, she had a feeling things would be okay.

Her body dropped onto solid ground.

* * *

Alt. E: Lily got caught in the transmutation and was sent with the brothers to Amestris.

* * *

 **So, that's that! I know it's unrealistic (well, a little _less_ unrealistic) for her to not have been thrown in/sped through the whole thing like the Elrics, and I just barely remembered that the Gate between worlds and knowledge aren't the same... But it's _my_ story and can change stuff if I want to! *childish pout and folding arms***

 **Anyone starting to figure out what's up with the Gate Babies? ;3 *wiggles eyebrows* If not, then I guess I have to try harder. ._.**

 **I had this whole real-life story I was gonna put here, but then I realized just how lame it was- and therefore how lame _my_ life is- and figured no one would really be amused by the whole thing like I am. ;-; I'm sawry I have a simple sense of humor!**

 **Any suggestions (especially the Create a Country thing above) receive an invisible hug from the character of their choice! :D Even someone not part of this fandom! :DDD**

 **K bai!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I've been seeing a lot of people use the word "headcanon" lately. I'm pretty sure I know what that means, but I can't help that every time I see it I imagine a random head first. XD**

 **I didn't think I was gonna do any omakes for this, but I've already thought of three (that are pretty clever in my personal opinion)... I think if/when I get to chapter 10, I'll put them (along with any others I think of) there. Now I am more determined to continue the story! :D**

 **But I should probably try to not focus on that. I've now got 3 alternates to begin, the 8th chapter to finish (though now the 7th chapter is twice as long), and a one-word-prompt. Ooooh boy.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

"Uuuuuuuuuuuggggghhhhh," Ed groaned as they entered their hotel room for the night and he flopped face-down onto his bed. "I'm so _tired..._ "

"You have a right to be," Al muttered sleepily as he dropped his backpack and actually bothered to slip off his shoes before doing the same thing.

"I want to stay in bed for a whole week," the elder complained, his voice muffled by his pillow.

"But we need to get to work tomorrow, Brother. We didn't really accomplish anything today."

"Besides understand how this country works, and get a decent feel for Central City." He held a lone index finger up as he made his point. "And I saw where the library is."

"You did?" Al asked in surprise, lifting his head from the mattress a little.

"Yep. It's easy to get to from here."

"That could be a good starting point," he said, relieved.

"Yep. Good night, Al." Ed rolled over onto his side and flicked the lightswitch next to his bed.

Matt blinked, not expecting the sudden ending of the conversation. "Wait! I wanted to ask you something!"

"What?" the other replied bitterly.

"Why were you so nice today?"

"..." Ed flipped over and looked to his brother through the dark. "What kind of question is that?"

"I mean, you were being polite and kind of quiet to Rillie... May I even say you were _shy._ "

"Come on, Al. We're in a new place with totally different people, so of course I'm going to be a little shy. Plus, I don't want to stand out too much," he mumbled back.

"I guess... I don't know, it was still a little weird to see you acting differently."

"What, are you saying I'm never nice? I'm always loud and obnoxious?" Ed defended, irritation in his voice.

"Good night, Brother." Al closed his eyes and turned away from his sibling so his little smile couldn't be seen.

"Hey! Don't just end it here!"

* * *

Ed awoke to the sound of someone jumping up and running across the room. He blearily opened his eyes and winced at the bright light now flooding out the bathroom. He groaned and forced himself out of bed to see if his brother was okay. After shuffling slowly to the door and scratching his leg, he peered into the small room and found a figure leaning over a toilet.

"Are you throwing up?" he asked sleepily.

Al nodded from his uncomfortable position on the ground.

"Do you need any help?"

Shook his head before coughing harshly.

"Okay. I'm gonna go sleep a little more." Ed moved away from the bathroom and once again collapsed on his bed.

Al sighed. _Thanks for being so caring, Brother._ He grimaced as the horrible sick feeling rose up from his stomach again.

* * *

"Excuse me?"

The nurse glanced up to see a nervous blond teenager looking really uncomfortable. She gave him a small smile. "Yes, how can I help you?"

"My brother's really sick, and I don't know what's up," he explained lamely as he pointed to a boy sitting in another part of the room.

She nodded in understanding and quickly grabbed a clipboard. "I'll go check if the doctor's free. Please fill this out in the meantime." She handed him the clipboard and a pen.

He scanned the paper on the board and frowned. "Wait, do I have to do all this? We don't live here."

"Just do what you can," she reassured before walking out the room.

Ed sighed in frustration and plopped down in the chair next to his brother with the form. "Great, Al. Looks like all the clinics in the world have paperwork."

"The amount here doesn't look that bad, though," Alphonse said softly. He was leaning back as far as he could in the chair, looking absolutely miserable. He'd already thrown up more than once just that morning.

Ed flipped the first page back, and blinked. "Oh, yeah. It's just one paper. The one underneath is a copy." He felt a little better about the form and got started.

To their pleasant surprise, the nurse came back just a few minutes later and asked them to come with her. Ed helped his brother up and they walked slowly to the doctor's office.

* * *

"Looks like just a mild case of food poisoning," the doctor diagnosed to the brothers with a smile. "You'll most likely be fine by tomorrow."

 _{_ _The Doctor:_ _Lives and breathes his job so much he cannot really be called anything else. Would probably actually use his real name more often if he lived in a world like ours with_ Doctor Who _fans everywhere. He's actually a pretty young guy, but acts beyond his years.}_

"Oh, good," Ed sighed, both relieved and also annoyed that they ended up coming here for something that wasn't serious.

"If you are not better within one or two days, come back here, and I can attempt to fix you up with alkahemy," he continued casually as he wrote something down on Al's form.

The brothers blinked. "Alka...hemy?"

"Isn't that what the youngsters call it?" The doctor looked up, raising an eyebrow. When he noticed that they were lost, he went on to explain. "It's a type of medical treatment that combines aspects of both alkahestry and alchemy, thus the combination "alka-hemy". All hospitals in Amestris offer this type of treatment along with more traditional forms like medication, and patients choose whichever they prefer. I personally use alkahemy more because of the nasty side effects pills can have."

"Cool!" Al responded excitedly. It seemed they'd used some sort of "alkahemy" to cross the Gate without knowing there was even a term for it.

"Perhaps the practice is not yet known in some other countries..." He studied the brothers more. They quickly realized what he meant.

"Is it _that_ obvious we're not from here?" Ed groaned as he crossed his arms, nearly pouting.

"Yes it is," the doctor said with an apologizing look. "Though your accents are good, they're not perfect."

He grunted as he stood up and walked to the door. "Now, if that is all, let's return to the lobby so you may pay the fee."

"Yeah... About that..." Ed sheepishly took out his wallet and held out an American dollar bill, which, sadly, had not been changed to the correct currency of this world on their trip through the Gate. "We don't have any cenz. We just barely got in Amestris."

The doctor lifted his eyebrow and took the bill into his hand, staring at it curiously. "Hm, I've never heard of this country. Is it small?" The Elrics shrugged, not exactly wanting to explain. "This looks similar to the currency of Kahlia."

Al was surprised to know already that that was the closest country to the US they'd find in this world. "And what is the exchange rate between Amestrian and Kahliran money?"

The older man put on a pondering look. "If I remember correctly, it would be about 200 cenz for every 1 dollar." He then wore a sour look and muttered to himself. "Blasted inflation..."

Both brothers glanced to each other in glee. The street food Rillie had bought for them yesterday (most likely the thing that got Al sick) had cost about 350 cenz. It had seemed like a lot of money, but compared to American... that was about $1.75! Everything was relatively pretty cheap around here. They probably had money to spare!... If they could get the correct currency.

"Thank you, sir." Al slowly stood up yet slightly bowed his head respectfully at the same time.

"Is it okay if we come back later and properly pay?..." Ed looked to the man guiltily.

The doctor looked to both of them. He usually wouldn't be so lenient, but, if he could infer from the little personal information given to him, they didn't have their parents around and were far from home. They were just barely figuring out how to do things on their own.

"...Okay. Come back by the end of the day with the money, please." He then paused and shook his head. "No, don't even bother. This time, you don't need to pay. After all, it was only 400 cenz."

Their jaws dropped. First of all- this clinic was that freaking cheap?! 400 cenz=$2! And on top of that, they didn't have to pay it!

"Thank you very much!" Both brothers smiled, and Ed helped Al out of the room.

"The closest place to exchange currency is at the train station!" the doctor told them before they could get too far away. They both turned to him and gave him nods of appreciation.

"1. Get a Kahliran dollar. 2. Transmute our money to look like that dollar. 3. Exchange it for cenz. 4. Figure out how much we owe the hotel," Ed whispered to his brother as they were on their way to the station (it was easy to tell where it was by the loud train sounds). "5. Eat. 6. Go to the library."

Al nodded. He was already feeling a little better compared to a few hours ago, and thought perhaps he was good enough to go about the day with his brother. He didn't want to miss anything, especially in case Ed's temper suddenly acted up at some point.

* * *

 **Thank you to author12306 for the country name, it helped me decide on the final name. I dunno why, but Kahlia sounds like it could be a cool place. :3 Sorry if it doesn't sound like it could fit in the FMA-verse, though. I just used the name I thought was the prettiest. XD**

 **Fun fact! I was drawing from my experiences in Mexico for this chapter. *embarrassed smile* My mom and I actually once went to a tiny clinic that cost 30 pesos, which, at the time, equaled a little over $2. The doctor was pretty nice and stuff. It just sucked getting there and back because we didn't have a car.**

 **In canon FMA, a cen basically equals a penny. However... I know that over time, money loses it value. Amestris has had a hard time after a hundred years, I guess. XD Yay learning about inflation in school! *unenthusiastic cheering***

 **I'm using this moment to help you guys if you ever go to a foreign country. A big rule: _don't drink the tap water._ Unless you're absolutely sure of the quality of the water being safe, stick with buying water bottles and water jugs. I've also heard if you go to a restaurant that gives you a glass of water, you should probably ask for water without ice. Even if the water is okay, you don't know if they made the ice out of clean water or not. **

**I dunno about other countries, but my family says to be wary of lettuce and strawberries in Mexico- they might not have washed either thoroughly.**

 **This is one of the few moments in which I feel wise. :3**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) C:

 _He blinked and frowned to himself._ Wait... I actually remember the Gate?

" _Excuse me?" Both jumped and looked to her, then simultaneously their faces flushed. She wondered if they were twins. "Are you following me?..."_

"U-uh, kinda... But it's because..." Al looked to his brother, who looked confused as heck and not about to speak anytime soon, so he pressed forward with the explanation instead. "We're... tourists! Yeah! And we don't really know where anything is. You looked like a native, so..."

Rillie blinked, then nodded in understanding. "Oh, okay! That makes sense. I got a little worried." She gave a short laugh. "Though it would've made more sense if you, oh, I don't know, had a map! Or just asked me for directions."

'Uh, Al?' The older brother subtly poked the younger and whispered. 'What the heck are you guys saying?'

'What?' Al whispered back, furrowing his brows.

'I can't understand a single word around here,' Ed frowned. 'How do you?'

Their eyes widened as they stared at each other and realized the predicament they were in. 'Oh, crap!'

"Is something wrong?" Both jumped when Rillie interrupted their conversation.

"Oh, sorry. ...My brother can't speak Amestrian..." The Elrics glanced to each other worriedly. This was going to be a lot harder if only one of them could communicate with the residents.

* * *

Alt. C: The Gate provided them with knowledge concerning the Amestrian language... But only Matt retained that memory. Unless John found a way to access the buried knowledge within himself, his younger brother would have to act as interpreter throughout their whole journey.

* * *

Alternate (Ending) D:

"Brother, do you understand a single thing people are saying around here?"

"Nope. Just sounds like German to me."

"Me too..."

* * *

Alt. D: Neither of them had any knowledge pertaining to any language except English (neither had even retained the basics from Spanish class in middle school), and the Gate didn't do them any favors... So they landed themselves in a place with an unfamiliar culture and language with little to no way to communicate. Universal signs probably weren't going to cut it. Clearly disappointed that they'd never get anything useful done, they quickly drew another circle and went home. No one except Lily and Megan knew they'd ever been gone. All 4 agreed in the basement, once the brothers returned, to not tell anyone this ever occurred.


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry about this chapter, it's more difficult to figure out what's gonna happen on our side of the Gate than what Ed and Al are doing. But I think I found something earlier today that'll work so yay. :3**

 **In this chapter I introduce a member of my family that's pretty important to me. She was actually living out of the house for a while and I missed her while writing this. Now she's here again and all's well with the world. :3**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Megan frowned to herself as she sat in her room. She was having a very difficult time accepting that everything that happened... _actually happened._ Even if she denied everything Lily said, she couldn't say her brothers _didn't_ disappear. She didn't actually see them, but she heard the commotion in the basement, and she could see the light streaming out the door.

Really, the things that girl had talked about were preposterous. It is true their ancestor was a man named Edward Elric (she helped John research him for school, after all), but it did not mean he was the same Edward Elric as in the little graphic novels Lily liked so much.

Alchemy was attempted a long time ago, but it didn't actually work. However, Lily told them it was _real_ and a whole _science_ \- and it was the cause of her brothers' disappearances.

 _But what else could those drawings in the basement be?_

What did Lily take them for? She clearly looked concerned, but her words just didn't match up with her tone. They lived in the _real world_ , for pete's sake! She'd probably make for a fantastic actress in some fantasy movie if she so pleased, but that explanation she'd conjured was unacceptable in any other circumstance.

 _But what other explanation is there?_

She let out a groan of frustration just a few seconds before her mother- it was a bit strange hearing _her_ voice instead of her aunt's- called that dinner was ready.

Megan composed herself and walked to the dining room. As she sat down in the familiar setting, she couldn't help but expect her rowdy brothers to come in after her, laughing at some joke told in that way where two people were so close they nearly spoke a different language, but there was just silence.

This would take some getting used to.

* * *

She studied Lily's face for a moment with a frown. Her sister rarely ever looked like that.

 _{_ _Di:_ _18 years old. Dark brown eyes and medium-length ombre hair. Lily's older (and only) sister, who has already graduated high school. Is looking for a job and plans to move out when she goes to a college of some sort. Not quite as close to Lily as either pair of Elric brothers, but still close. Loves doing her hair and makeup, unlike her sister. Currently wears a tee, sweatpants, and a concerned look on her face.}_

Few things could change Lily's mood drastically. After all, she was known as the most optimistic and energetic member of the family (even though she'd suddenly taken a liking to sitting around at a computer for hours a few years ago). If she was on the verge of tears while trying to do homework, something was seriously wrong.

She stood up and walked over to the kitchen, both to get a snack and to ask her mom if she knew what was up. As she predicted, her mother had been washing the dishes while a soap opera was playing in the background.

The mom paused the TV and her work when her daughter came in, knowing what she was probably about to ask, and explained in a soft voice that, while a lot of the facts flew past her, the point was that two of Lily's friends at school were gone and no one was sure if they were okay.

Di winced upon hearing the situation. She knew her sister had relatively few bad experiences throughout her life compared to herself, even though they were together almost everywhere whenever possible. (Not to say it was easier for her to deal with things compared to Lily because of experience.) This would be particularly tough for a girl like her who cared a lot about her friends.

She thanked her mom for the information and quietly walked back to the living room with her snack in hand (though now she wasn't so sure if she was actually going to eat it).

When she returned, Lily was already putting her pencil and eraser back into her backpack, so she assumed she was done with her homework.

She eased herself back into her favorite spot on the couch as she considered what to do now. Well, the decision wasn't even very hard. It was how to approach it so it wouldn't be that obvious that was the problem.

Di wanted to cheer her sister up. She knew that's what Lily would want to do for someone else, after all. It was just the thing to do when it came to someone like her.

She rolled her eyes at herself when she realized Lily would figure out what she was doing whether it was subtle or not.

"Hey, what do you wanna watch?" Di asked as she paused the show she'd been on and returned to the DVR. Lily blinked at her, then had a hint of a smile.

"What's on the list?"

"Let's see... there's... a new _Modern Family, Big Bang Theory_..." She winced at the next show, for it was one only Lily liked, but she named it out loud anyway- unlike what she usually did. "And there's _Adventure Time._ "

"Would you actually be okay with watching _Adventure Time_?" Lily questioned, slightly surprised with her sister.

"...I don't know, I guess?"

"Then put on _Big Bang Theory_."

Di looked to the younger girl and did a quiet short laugh as she grinned before putting on the new episode.

Even when she was having a hard time, Lily would try to be considerate of other people.

Both laughed and made witty remarks as they watched, enjoying each other's company.

Lily was back to normal. Or at least at the moment.

* * *

A nurse received a message. She was to go to room 367. As she walked hurriedly, she attempted to recall who was currently occupying that room. When she remembered, her eyes widened and she picked up her pace, whizzing past other doctors, nurses, and patients in the hallway with practiced ease.

She opened the door, and confirmed it was who she thought it was. She plastered on a smile and entered the room.

Ryan had woken up.

* * *

 **Oh gosh, you guys are gonna kill me when you find out what I have after this giant cliffhanger. *evil cackle masking how terrified I am***

 **And I have an announcement. For once, I'm actually doing something this summer. Next week I'm going to girl's camp, and the week after that we're visiting relatives in Mexico for a while. A long while. I'll be back in the US for my birthday. :3**

 **So I guess I'll try to post another chapter in the weekend in between those two events, but I rarely will have access to the internet while in Mexico, so don't expect another for a few weeks until I come back home.**

 **But perhaps (and by that I mean _hopefully_ ) while I'm there I'll get some writing done on my iPod. Inspiration can come from anywhere, and it'd be just fantastic if it came to me during a moment of utter and complete boredom. :3 Without as many other things to do, like read fanfics, while there, I think I'll get _something_ done. If not, then you are allowed to slap me silly.**

 **As a pitiful attempt to bring some comedy back into this story, here's the next alternate. (I just gotta say, writing VH- YUS, ACRONYMS!- has felt like I'm writing a soap opera. One of those Mexican _telenovelas_ my mom watches. Lies, betrayal, revenge, someone in the hospital... You totally get what I mean, right? XD) I know the situation is a little more serious than before, when it was just "Look at my family history!" but these characters are just meant to be more light-hearted and happy. Without more of that stuff going on, it feels unnatural. Any ideas what to do?**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Species) F:

 _He dropped onto solid ground, but he didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience._

Matt blinked his eyes as he woke up, and he stretched a little before examining his surroundings. He didn't recognize any of them- except for his brother next to him.

John, said brother, sighed in relief. "You're awake," he meowed.

"I kinda wish I was still asleep," the younger muttered, flicking his ear.

"But, hey, look! We made it! We're in Amestris!" Ed grinned as he wiped a bit of dust from his leg and walked to the mouth of the alleyway they'd landed in.

Al perked up and followed his brother, indeed seeing that they were now in a new place that was probably Amestris.

"So what do we do first?" he meowed to his elder sibling.

"I'm hungry. Let's go for scraps."

The orange-haired brothers trotted across the street to a person eating at a table outside a restaurant. After they pawed his foot and gave him big, cutesy eyes, the man "aww"ed and tossed to them a few chunks of chicken from his plate. They gratefully ate the snack and went on their merry way.

"Do you wanna go to the library?" Ed suggested as they walked and gazed around at the sights.

"Why? We can't read."

"Oh yeah." Ed paused. "Then how'd we get here in the first place?"

"I don't know how we did the transmutation. We don't even have thumbs," Al pointed out.

"Then... What do we do?"

Both shrugged and proceeded to find a nice place for a long cat nap.

* * *

Alt. F: Ed and Al were cats this whole time. How did you not notice?


	7. Chapter 7

**Girl's camp is funfunfun! If you are invited to go, I suggest you do! (Unless you're a guy, of course...) I got the camp name Rhythm there! :3 The only cute nickname from it I can think of is Rhyrhy (Reh-reh), but I feel like maybe it's a bit of a stretch. ._.**

 **One more chapter before I go on a plane to a distant land... I think this is one of the longest chapters for VH so far. I think.**

 **I've wanted to introduce a character I made the same day as Rillie, but didn't find a spot earlier to do it. As for what was to happen in the rest of the chaper, I eventually thought, "Hey, how 'bout I mug 'em?"**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Despite what seemed would be a crammed schedule, the brothers had managed to do everything that day and still have plenty of time later to check out the library. It had been difficult to stick to the mission with so many other books distracting them, sadly, and they didn't get much done before going to the hotel to sleep again.

The next morning, a certain gray-haired girl (who had worn a more casual dress and left her hair down) caught them after they finished breakfast and tagged on to their walk to the library again. (Though she was glad to see people still reading books, she thought it was a strangely lame way to spend their time in a foreign country.)

Ed and Al took in the sights calmly again, now that the city was relatively peaceful after the festivities a few days before. They walked on the edge of a park, evading joggers on the sidewalk, and breathed in the air. Despite the obvious pollution, the government was doing a pretty good job of keeping the air cleaner.

The nice morning walk was disrupted, however, as a loud, obnoxious sound started sneaking up on them. Before they knew it, a big breeze whooshed by, hitting them on their sides that were facing the road, as an ambulance noisily made its way by. They watched it take a sharp right turn at the next intersection, the only evidence it was near being the now slowly fading sounds of the siren.

"Hope they're okay," Rillie mumbled quietly, referring to whoever the ambulance was rushing to save. She turned away as if to say _'What can ya do?'_

Ed didn't follow her, though. He stood, staring, as the realization he'd had a few weeks ago came back again- the one that had made him and Al spend extra time with their Sensei.

Amestris was not a paradise.

It was just as much of a dangerous place as their native country- in fact, maybe even more dangerous for them, because, while there were plenty of similarities, who knew if there were any threats they were not prepared for?

Did they really know what kind of place they were messing with?

"Wait, guys!" Rillie interrupted his thoughts, bringing him back to the present. He glanced to see that she was pointing to the other end of the block. "The ambulance stopped just over there!"

 _"Woah,"_ Ed heard Al whisper, and he silently agreed with him. They'd never been so close to an accident before- besides a car wreck every few years, but usually the kind where no one actually got hurt. _Then there was Ryan._

 _But that's why we're here,_ he reminded himself quickly. _To hopefully find something that'll help her that isn't available in the US._

"I-I don't know if I want to see what happened," Al said timidly, and his brother blinked, having gotten lost in thought again. Rillie must have asked if they wanted to check it out while he was out of it.

"But we can't ignore what is almost right in front of us!"

So she would get off Al's back (and his, too, since he didn't particularly want to go either), Ed pointed out, "We might get in the way of the paramedics' work."

She frowned and grudgingly agreed. Joining the small crowd that was already forming wouldn't help in the slightest. They might not even get to see what happened, anyway. She wasn't even sure why she wanted to see, considering knowing she was just a short walk away from a potentially bad accident of some sort already made her feel uneasy.

Rillie turned back to John and Matt, who both looked just about dying to get away from there (which made sense, but also meant they did not realize this could be their chance to see emergency alkahemy in action), and once more towards the flashing lights streaming through the trees, before sighing and continuing on the sidewalk as they'd been doing before.

A minute or two passed by of silent walking, her leading the way, but her step faltered when she heard the brown-haired brother say something behind her.

"What was that guy _thinking?_ "

She and the blond brother followed the direction Matt's eyes stared out to and simultaneously burst out laughing.

There was a grown man struggling to get out of a baby swing in the playground.

Said man looked over to her, and when she realized she recognized who it was, she wasn't sure whether to get mad, cry, or just laugh harder. She stuck with the final option until she was close enough to him to help him out.

"Meet my older brother, Milo."

 _{_ _Milo:_ _21 years old. Has brown eyes, medium skin, and white hair pulled back in a ponytail- his haircut reminds the author of Len Kagamine, but if you do not know him, then just picture CoS Al's hair with a shorter ponytail. He has quite a tacky taste in fashion, and so is currently rocking a green and gold "Amestrian Pride" shirt.}_

"Sup, Rillie!" he greeted, relieved yet even more nervous at the same time because _she_ was the one to catch him in the aftermath of doing something idiotic.

"Why did you think this was a good idea?" she sighed as she studied his current predicament.

"I was bored, and I recently lost some weight. I was curious if I'd fit now," he explained lamely with a slightly sheepish and apologetic smile.

"You'd have to weigh 10 pounds to fit in that thing," Ed deadpanned.

"10 what?" The Amestrians looked at him funny.

"Oh, uh, 4 or 5 kilograms," he corrected himself after a quick estimated calculation in his head- knowing conversions was useful at times.

"Yeah, and you weigh more like a hundred," Rillie berated her brother, who still was stuck in the swing. How he even managed to squeeze himself into it all the way was quite a baffling mystery to everyone.

"No I don't! I'm almost down to 80!" Milo whined.

"You won't be anymore if you keep eating like a pig."

"Are we gonna help him get down?" Al interrupted the sibling banter; even though it was amusing, he was worried about the poor man's health.

"Oh, right. Ed, Al," she quickly introduced the two to her brother, who waved in a carefree manner with a friendly grin. "How do you think we can get him out?"

"It'd probably be unsuccessful if we tried to haul him out the way he is now..." Ed stated as the gears in his head turned, "...so maybe if we tipped him over?"

"What?" Milo suddenly sounded alarmed.

"Right, Brother. He might just slide out."

"Onto my head!"

"You won't if you are careful," Ed waved off his concern. He and his sibling silently agreed upon holding onto Milo's legs, leaving Rillie to take his upper body. Despite his protesting, both brothers prepared to tip him over.

"1...2...3!" They heaved up his legs at the same time while Rillie pushed his chest down, then the three worked together to push him out of the seat and let gravity do the rest of the job.

 _"Oof!"_ Milo grunted as his body made impact with the ground, and he rubbed sore spots pitifully.

"Hey, that was actually pretty easy. You're lighter than I thought," the red-eyed girl commented, seeming to have not thought of the fact that _maybe_ he seemed not as heavy because the brothers were stronger than they looked and took most of the grunt work.

"What, did you think I was fat?" Milo pouted, not looking at all like he was the oldest person there at the moment.

"Say thank you," Rillie chided her brother as she helped him off the ground.

"Okay, okay. Thanks, guys. I don't know what I would've done if I ended up stuck there for any longer," he chuckled. "In return, I'll buy you guys food if you're hungry. I'm starving!"

Not wanting to be rude, they accepted the offer- on the conditions that it was in a few hours for lunch since they already had breakfast, and that they ate in a restaurant, not the street. Al was not about to go through food poisoning again.

* * *

"You won't tell Mom about this, right?"

"Who do you take me for?" Rillie waited for Milo to sigh in relief before continuing with an evil grin. "Of course I'm gonna tell her."

* * *

"You seriously love meat, don't you?" Ed commented to Rillie as they sat by the restaurant Milo had chosen for lunch. The weather was quite nice, so they'd chosen to eat at a table outside.

"Yeah, you ate more than _him_." Al pointed his thumb to his brother, who in turn was annoyed by the accusation yet agreed that her ravenous appetite was surprising.

"It runs in the family," she chuckled. "We all have four stomachs like a cow."

"Duly noted," Al joked back. He glanced at his watch and did a double-take. "Wow, we've been here for an hour now."

"We should probably start heading for the library again," Ed sighed as he and the younger Elric started to get out of their seats.

"Thank you guys so much," Al repeated the gratitude they'd already shown more than once before.

"You're really going in there _again?_ I'm gonna have to come back and drag you out to dinner, too, before you starve yourselves to death!"

(She really had to come and drag them out of the building to eat because they were so focused they didn't notice how late it was getting.)

"Don't get so worked up; we'll be fine!"

"At least wait till my brother comes back from paying for the food," Rillie huffed.

Ed glanced through the window into the establishment, then raised his brow to the young woman. "I don't know... From the looks of it, he's flirting with the cashier. Who knows how long he'll take to get back here."

Rillie understood his point, even if it'd be a little rude to leave without saying goodbye to him. She knew how much Milo liked to chat, especially with cute girls. "Fine, knock yourselves out with all your books about... whatever it is." She waved them off, and they waved back before walking away.

She sighed and rested her chin in her hand as she leaned her elbows on the table. She watched the backs of the boys as they walked away. They were a bit of a mystery, weren't they? She barely knew anything beyond their personalities (and there was an inkling of a theory within her that Ed had a small crush on her), which was frustrating even though she'd only met them two or three days ago. Not that she knew very many studious people, but it didn't seem normal for high school boys to go researching something in another country (what country were they even from?!).

But those thoughts flew out the window when she witnessed the Elrics (now nearing the end of the block) suddenly get pulled off the sidewalk, vanishing into an alley.

* * *

" _Psst,"_ he whispered to his right-hand man. "Look at those two guys over there," he ordered, pointing toward a pair of teenagers that just barely started walking away from a restaurant. "Looks like they're not from around here, probably tourists. And with those big backpacks, they probably carry everything around, including a big wad of cash."

 _{ Mr. Mugg and Rob: _Just _came up with their names. Hehehe. Two grimy men with no families, nothing better to do, and no desire to be in organized crime.}_

"But do you really wanna rob two kids like that?"

"Just means our job is easier," he smirked. His partner smiled back and both lied in wait in the alley, waiting for the teens to come by to strike. A minute later, a shadow was seen on the sidewalk, and the men whipped out their arms and violently pulled in the two that owned the shadow. They threw the smaller bodies against the nearest wall.

"Where's your money?" the first man threatened with a scowl.

They expected the two to blink in shock then go into one of the other varying reactions their victims usually had, but they didn't even do that. One immediately jabbed his knee into Rob's stomach while the other threw his elbow across Mugg's face like it was instinct.

* * *

"Al!" Ed yelled after he hit the guy's face, glancing to the side to see that his little brother was busy escaping the other man's grip. He elbowed the robber's face again before snaking around to try to hold the man's arms behind his back.

"Round 1, Brother?" Al yelled back. That was their name for the flipping-someone-over-your-shoulder move, a move the younger Elric had basically mastered. He even managed to do it to Sensei once. However, by asking this, it wasn't just for permission to do the move- it was to ask whether they should stay to fight in general or just try to run.

Ed didn't even know why he was asking. Considering the question was directed to _John Edward Elric,_ he must've known what the answer would be.

He quickly threw off his backpack and tossed it to the side, somehow maintaining his grip on Mugg's wrists.

"Dingdingding!" he rang like a bell signaling the beginning of a wrestling match. Thus, the two began to put to practice what Sensei had taught them before they came to Amestris.

* * *

Rillie burst out of her seat, heart starting to beat faster as she realized the brothers suddenly disappeared out of her sight- and probably not of their own choice. She quickly considered telling Milo to go help them, but then shook her head. First, she should see if they'd even need the help. No need to get her brother worked up if it's really nothing.

 _Though I doubt it's nothing._

She sprinted down the sidewalk to the spot they'd last been at and veered into the alley, expecting the Elrics beat up on the ground or gone or maybe even worse!-

She gaped at the scene that was actually before her. This was the _last_ thing she expected.

 _Ed and Al_ were beating up the _strangers,_ not the other way around. And quite thoroughly, it seemed, since she witnessed the younger brother actually flip one of them over his shoulder like it was no big deal.

Neither seemed to have noticed her presence, which didn't really surprise her much. Their job was almost nearly done, in fact, as both men were now on the ground, groaning in pain, as the boys loomed over them.

"Leave us alone, okay?" Ed said to them with his arms crossed, giving them a look that made them know he was serious. She doubted they were going to come near the Elrics again anyway.

"And don't do this to anyone else, please?" Al added, sounding like a disappointed mother in a way. It would've been funny if they didn't all now know what he was capable of. Ed nodded his approval for his brother's statement before turning away to fetch his backpack. Even though it was farther into the alley (unintentionally), he thought it was safe enough for him to just get it and put it back on. He was wrong.

Once the straps were on his shoulders and he turned around, he faced the knife of the first man, who looked quite pissed off. Mugg, who Ed had thought was down and out for the count, had somehow gotten back up to threaten once again. He backed the Elric against a wall again, still pointing the knife toward the blond.

Ed was now pretty worried, unsure of the best course of action- after all, the knife added a new element of danger. Sensei had never really liked weapons and thought true men fought with their fists.

"Brother!" He turned quickly to find that the other man had basically put Al into the same position. They must've been pretty resilient and just faked giving up before so they could take the upper hand now.

Seeing Al in danger seemed to spark something within Ed. Before he even knew what he was doing, he clapped his hand and slammed the right onto the wall beside him. Blue sparks flew from his hand and travelled down to the ground, which morphed and jabbed upwards to make the men fall backwards. Ed quickly kicked Mugg's wrist, making him let the knife go, while he was still on the ground, and stomped on the man's stomach for good measure. He turned to signal to Al that they should go, but paused when he finally noticed a witness to everything- Rillie.

Al glanced over and gasped as he saw the girl's presence, too. He then had an apologetic look on his face as he ran right past her, followed by his older brother.

They ran crazy hard until they reached the library, just in case the men decided to follow them. They didn't know that, once she got out of her stupor, Rillie flagged down the nearest cop and got the criminals arrested for armed robbery.

They also didn't know what she thought after the whole ordeal. They just barely gave _themselves_ a moment after catching their breath to be amazed by the fact that not only could Ed (and probably Al too) now perform circle-less alchemy, but he did it as instinct.

It wasn't that that Rillie was shocked by, though. It was the implication it brought.

 _Ed and Al committed the taboo._

* * *

 ***that one cat in _Puss in Boots_ that's like "OOOOOOOH!"***

 **It was a bit after I made Milo that I remembered there's a country called Milos near Amestris. XD He is not named after the country! Though I may end up using that coincidence for future jokes. (Also, I recently realized he's kinda Ling-y. We all need a Ling in our lives.)**

 **P.S.- Scaehime, that's genius. I don't know why I didn't think of that before. If it's okay to barf cats over all my work more than is already there, then BE PREPARED, GUYZ!~**

 **I don't know why I love the image of Al channeling Izumi in the way he fights so much. And "Round 1!" seemed to fit for me. If I was a wrestler or something, I'd totally do something like that as soon as possible. I feel like it'd be pretty fun if I was strong enough. XD**

 **Okay, so I'll be back in a few weeks, hopefully with a lot of writing done! I've already been mentally planning for the next one or two chapters...**

 **Have some final feels in the next alternate, which happens to be below this AN!**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Ending) G:

 _A few seconds later, Lily was suddenly filled with anger again and she exploded at them from across the almost-empty hall. "It's because of_ idiots _like_ you _that women_ live _longer, ELRIC!"_

Ed and Al were putting on some final touches on their transmutation circles when a phone buzzed on the concrete nearby. Al raised his brow to his brother, wondering if he should answer or not, but the other just said nothing. He took the lack of response as yes, and answered the call.

"Hello?"

 _"Oh... gosh. Thank... Oh, gosh. I'm so glad you answered."_

"Is that you, Lily?" Al glanced back over to Ed, who seemed to be listening.

 _"I... caught you before you actually tried it, right?"_

"Uh... yeah?" He suddenly yelped as the phone was grabbed from him.

"You aren't going to change our minds, if that's what you're thinking," the new holder of the device, Ed, stated stubbornly to her.

Lily seemed to stutter and have a hard time choosing her words on the other end. If that wasn't a cue something was wrong...

 _"L-look, there's no point for you to go there anymore,"_ she decided on, sounding like she was about to cry.

"What? We have a frickin' good reason, whether you think it is or not!" Ed replied angrily.

 _"I know,"_ she retorted quickly. When Ed then heard her start taking shaky breaths, his frustrated expression dropped. He glanced to Al, then quickly took the phone away from his ear and put it on speaker so both could hear what she had to say.

 _"Wh... when you guys were already gone from school,"_ she began again, _"...I got some news."_

Well, clearly, from the tone of her voice, it was the bad kind. When neither Elric said anything back yet, she pushed herself to continue.

 _"Um... You guys can't save Ryan."_

Ed and Al's eyes widened. _No. NO. DON'T TELL ME!..._

"She's...?" Al started quietly, wide eyes fixed on a spot on the ground.

 _"Yeah. Gone."_ Lily's voice had turned into a whisper.

Ed hung his head. "It's too late..."

* * *

Alt G: Ryan passed away earlier that day, saving the boys from a potentially fatal transmutation. They cleaned it all up before their family could see. The funeral happened a week later. They stayed friends with Lily, but the Elric brothers put away alchemy and their family history for good.


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey again! It was my birfday yesterday. Gotta love receiving birthday wishes on Facebook. XD I'd been planning to post this then, but we actually ended up being pretty busy with b-day stuff.**

 **Among b-day stuff was watching Disney movies. The last one was _The Emperor's New Groove_ , and because of that, I'm now gonna try to start using "llama face" as an insult. XD Hey, it's different from my usual "buttface".**

 **I think I generally used my time out of the country wisely writing-wise, but I'm disappointed I didn't get more for _this story specifically_ done. I only have this chapter and the next done. O.O (Well, and some more omakes for chapter 10.) I'm not even totally sure how long this story will end up being, but it's gonna be longer than 9 chapters, that's for sure. -_-" C'mon, brain, _get with the program! X(_**

 **So, uh, remember that big cliffhanger for our side of the Gate? Yeah, this is where I shatter any hopes and dreams you got from it, because when I was thinking of how to follow that cliffhanger I decided I'd screw with all your feelings and make you want to redrum me. (It'd be appreciated if you didn't redrum me, though, thank you~)**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

 _Ryan had woken up._

"Hello, how are you feeling?" A friendly, slightly soft-spoken nurse entered, closing the door behind her as silently as possible, so as to not interrupt whoever else was also in the room, Ryan guessed.

 _{_ _Ryan Parlor:_ _Male. 13 years old. Medium brown hair and hazel eyes. Currently sporting a very fashionable broken leg from a skiing incident. Dang nabbit.}_

"Fine," the average response slipped out his mouth. _At least, as fine as someone can be in the hospital,_ he amended silently.

The nurse studied his face for a moment, then wore an understanding and apologetic smile. "You don't want to be here, do you? I know, but there's some things to do before you can leave." She then added conspiratorially, "Don't let anyone know I told you, but I heard your parents and the doctor agreeing on letting you out tomorrow, as long as things are wrapped up fast enough."

"Thank goodness," Ryan sighed to himself and let his head flop back onto his pillow. He glanced up again when he noticed the nurse shuffling about, and realized she brought him a little snack. Jello. Yup, he was getting the whole hospital experience.

He sat up so she could just hand it to him now. "Thank you, miss."

"I'm Isabella," she introduced. "And you're welcome, Ryan."

He look befuddled for a moment that she knew her name, but then mentally facepalmed when he remembered his name was tacked onto his bed frame. She walked away to tend to the other patients as he started peeling the wrapper off the Jello cup.

He had already dug in for a minute when he thought he heard the nurse giggle softly to herself. He strained to see if there was something funny nearby, and she turned to him.

"The girl here is also named Ryan," Isabella explained as she held the information about the closest patient in her hands. He moved about more (wincing when he felt his leg shift) and was able to get a glimpse of the face of the girl the nurse spoke of. Well, he caught sight of her big curly hair more than anything.

"Why does she have a guy name?"

Isabella just shrugged as she put down the papers and moved to another bed.

Ryan, who frowned upon the nurse letting slip that one piece of info and then dropping the subject, hoped he could get more out of her. There wasn't much to do in the room, and he wasn't going to deny his interest wasn't piqued.

"What happened to her?"

Isabella turned to him with a finger over her mouth, signaling him to kindly shut up- or at least talk softer.

"Car accident. Currently in a coma."

"For how long?"

"Who knows how long it'll last. I believe it's been at least 2 weeks already."

He let loose a low whistle, and the person currently writing this conversation felt a little envy because she never figured out how to whistle herself, then realized she got off-track and needed to get back to matters that mattered more.

"I had an uncle who was in a coma once. He died." Ryan slinked into his bed upon the nurse's look. He hadn't really meant much by that little declaration, but she seemed offended by it, as if he was stating this other patient under her care was not going to make it either.

"Well, Ryan's going to be just fine. Both Ryans." Isabella ended the conversation in a tone that suggested she was right, no matter what.

* * *

Despite the amount of friends she somehow managed to obtain, Lily never really considered herself social. Therefore, it didn't really weird anyone out when she didn't say more than "Hey" to any person before stuffing her face back into a book. She brought more books to school that morning, just in case someone tried harder than usual to make her interact.

She loved plenty of her other friends who weren't Ed and Al (though admittedly she didn't talk to them as much anymore once they entered her life), but she was just not in the mood. She knew at a point she'd have to stop ignoring the reality that kept going after their disappearing act, but for now, she really wanted to just forget about everything every chance she got through the fantasy world held within the pages. Even if those pages were from the series that caused the whole thing in the first place.

She was sucked into... what FMA volume was it again? 15? She wasn't even sure anymore, she was just whizzing through the story. Unlike what she thought she'd be doing reading them the second time- studying every page, looking for what she had missed the first time around- she was not really thinking about the plot, the past and future in the timeline. She was just reading.

She flinched violently as she suddenly felt something on her shoulder, scaring her out of the bubble. She looked behind her as her heart pounded, just to see a fellow student with finger still extended.

"Uh, can you pass those back?..." She furrowed her eyebrows, then followed their gaze to her desk, where a small pile of homework rested. Oops.

"Sorry," she apologized shakily as she dropped the book, siphoned the first paper off the top, and handed back the rest of them to the student's waiting palm, all while her heart slowly slowed down after the jumpscare.

 _That was why I stopped bringing so many books to school,_ Lily mentally scolded to herself. _I don't even have a clue what the class has been about._

"Oh, and," the student continued in a whisper before her full attention could be redirected to the assignment, "you know Melissa, right? She's seen you hanging around with the Elrics, and wanted to know if you know why they're not here. She'd had something she wanted to ask Ed."

Lily froze, staring wide-eyed at the student, who now started to look a bit worried upon her reaction.

 _This was why I brought so many books anyways._

* * *

A loud doorbell rang, scaring Lily, who had been sitting in the living room in her house watching Cartoon Network.

 _Who the heck could that be?_ All her family was already inside and no one, including the missionaries, had been invited for dinner today (as far as she knew)...

She stood up and hurried to open the door, and was surprised to see _Mrs. Elric_ on the doorstep.

"Uh, hi! Would you like to come in?" she asked once she remembered to use her manners.

"Yes, please, thank you," the woman muttered, wiping her shoes on the doormat and stepping inside. Lily gestured for her to sit on the couch as she closed the front door and sat down herself.

They sat there awkwardly for a minute.

"...I came over," the Elric finally started to speak, "to ask something of you." She held up a few papers Lily had not noticed were in her hands. The mom wordlessly gave them to the girl, who glanced down to the front page and found writing and symbols doodled everywhere.

"I believe this is the work John and Matt did," Mrs. Elric explained. "I found it hidden away in John's room. I, however, for the life of me, cannot understand anything in the notes, and I was wondering if you could."

Lily blinked at her, then glanced back down at the papers, then looked back up. "You know this won't help anything, right?" she said softly.

"Yes, I know, but... I still want to feel like we're doing _something,_ " Mrs. Elric replied, sighing. "This is the only thing I can think of. And you seem like a smart girl; you'll find something in there."

"I doubt I can understand any of this, though. I know I tend to do good at school, but I'm not a genius," Lily protested. "I'll probably accomplish nothing and then just give up."

"Have some faith in yourself." She gave the teen a small smile. "But if you cannot figure any of it out, we won't be mad or anything. We'll know you put in all your effort, and that's what matters to me. Could you please at least try?"

Lily switched between looking at the notes and the Elric for a moment as she considered.

She spotted that on the edge of the first page, Al had doodled a few cats.

With a little smile, she slightly nodded.

"Yeah, I guess I'll try."

* * *

 **Yeah, I know, I know, "Do or do not, there is no try."**

 **And yeah, I know. "THAT WAS A DIFFERENT RYAN WAT ARE YOU DOING."**

 **I'll _tell you_ what I'm doing. Prolonging the inevitable. That's what. I mean, I'm still seriously just _winging it_ every time I write a chapter, so I'm not just gonna _wake her up_ unless I think of what to do afterwards.**

 **And, speaking of... Um... Something happened in Mexico. There was a woman with her kids that got run over by a bus... right in front of my Abuelita's neighborhood. The people that knew her, as far as I understood, were seriously _this close_ to rioting.**

 **I already kinda have a sore spot, in a way, for car crashes and the like, because of stuff that's happened in my family. It actually really hurt to put Ryan through one- a _fake person_ \- because of that, but it was the most realistic thing I could come up with. Yes, guys, a car crash was the most realistic thing, because they happen _all the time_ and so easily _run people's lives._ Of course I wanted to have a relatively happy ending in this story, but, in memory of this woman (I don't even know her name, but I think I know her enough anyway because I saw her dead body on the ground) and everyone else who'd gone through accidents and they _didn't_ have a happy ending, I'm making sure Ryan is okay. Spoiler alert, but I really want everyone to be happy in the end.**

 **Please be as safe on the road as you can be. Sorry for ruining your mood, but I hope the next alternate cheers you back up.**

 **K bai.**

* * *

Alternate (Route) H:

 _He dropped onto solid ground, but he didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience._

Matt groaned as he awoke. He slowly lifted the front half of his body off the ground, scratching at his head. Even with just barely waking up, he immediately something felt different about his hair. It felt like it was longer, maybe a bit thinner too. Also perhaps heavier because of the new length, though it could just be that giant headache from the Gate.

He blinked blearily and looked around to his immediate surroundings. He quickly spotted a boy next to him, though he didn't recognize the kid at all. Well, his haircut and color were just about like his own, along with his taste in clothes... He looked a little like himself, he concluded, but otherwise didn't seem familiar.

He then looked down to inspect himself, and frowned in confusion. Huh? Why was he wearing Ed's shirt? And... his _pants?_ That can't be right.

Just as he was thinking about this, the other began to stir. He yawned and smacked his lips in a very Ed-like fashion as he fully awoke. He also began to look around, and their eyes locked. The stare-off continued for a few more seconds before the stranger's eyes wandered to look at the rest of Matt and he raised his eyebrow.

"Who the heck are you?"

Matt sighed and restrained rolling his eyes. _Oh great, another person like Brother._ "I'm Al. You?" He blinked at hearing his own voice; it seemed a little different, too.

"Huh? Al?" The stranger scrutinized him even closer, then stared into Matt's eyes, only managing to _slightly_ creep him out. After another stare-off, the stranger gasped. "Al _Elric?_ "

"Yeah... Do you know me?"

"Oh my gosh, Al! What happened to you?!" The boy came closer and reached a hand out, but Matt recoiled.

"Wait, who are _you?_ " he asked, making the other look confused and a little hurt.

"C'mon, Al; it's me, Ed! Your _older brother?_ " Matt blinked and studied the kid who claimed to be Ed again. Sure, the mannerisms were the same, and he was showing concern... Though he looked like someone else, he felt like it was really the eldest Elric.

"Brother?" Both grinned and reached forward to have a reuniting hug. It ended a second later, though, because it sort of felt like hugging a stranger.

"Okay, why do you look different?" the new Ed asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, for one, you've got blond hair," he said as he reached a hand up to touch Al's hair. He quickly slinked it back after touching and started inspecting his hand. "It feels like my hair," he muttered, suddenly fascinated by the hand. This wasn't his! Why was it attached to his arm?

"You mean what your hair _used_ to feel like, right?" Al gave him a disbelieving look. "I mean, you look different too."

Alarmed, Ed reached up to touch his own new head of hair. "Aw man, I'd been growing it out! What's it look like now?"

The younger Elric shook his head and started to stand up. "How about we find a mirror or something? It'll be easier." The elder agreed and followed him out of the alley. Both silently gasped when they caught sight of a flag with Amestrian green and the dragon thing on it. They actually made it to Amestris!

"What's with the crowd?" Al muttered as he adjusted his backpack.

"I dunno, but we can find out later," Ed shrugged. He looked to his right and noticed that the shop they were next to had clothes. "Come on, in here."

They wriggled to the door of the store and sighed in relief, both at escaping the sea of people and finding that half of the inventory was men's clothes. If this entire place had been dresses, it would've been _embarrassing._

They quickly put themselves to look like they were scanning the clothes to act natural. Upon finding the rack with hats, they each grabbed a random cap and went to the nearest mirror to "try the hats on".

What they discovered was a little mind-boggling.

"This is _me?_ " Al whispered as he stared at the reflection. He now had blond hair, brown eyes, and a slightly wider build. He was also a little shorter than before. "But... I look like _you!_ "

"No you don't! But I sure look like _you,_ " Ed retorted, staring at the new him too.

"Yeah, you look a little like me, but I don't think you're _me_... Are you?" He gasped. "Wait, so... Do you think we switched bodies or something?"

"But the transmutation wasn't supposed to do that!"

"Yeah, but it could've still happened. It was a pretty complicated circle for newbies," Al pointed out.

"True... But if that's what happened, then why don't I recognize _myself?_ " Ed motioned to his brother's new look. He then suddenly seemed to remember something and facepalmed. "Man, I think I read something on the internet a long time ago that said if you met a clone of yourself or something you wouldn't realize it. You look at yourself differently than other people look at you."

Al hummed in agreement, then glanced back over to Ed's reflection. "So I really look like that?"

"Yup." Ed gazed at Al's reflection too.

"I look _weird,_ " both stated at the same time, clearly uncomfortable.

* * *

Alt. H: At some point during their trip to the other side of the Gate, they ended up in each other's bodies. No one around here knew them before the change so it didn't really affect anything or anyone along their journey. However, they both liked their old selves more than their new ones, and really hoped on the way back home they'd go back to normal again. In the meantime, though, Ed was really enjoying being taller, especially compared to his younger brother.


	9. Chapter 9

**Is this boring? I hope not. If it is, please give me something to un-borify it.**

 **Sorry, this is the only fic I've posted on FFN lately, and I don't want it to be a poopy one.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

"H-hey, Brother!" Al exclaimed. He was still slightly panting a bit after the whole brawl and sprint. He pointed to a flyer taped to a wall inside the library. "Have you seen this?"

Ed ran his fingers through his hair, feeling sweaty and gross like his sibling, as he leaned to read the flyer. His eyes grew wide and his face split into a grin.

It was an opportunity for young adults (probably around college age) to attend a seminar and see demonstrations of new medical technology at a hospital in West City.

"This is so perfect! And it's in a few days! We gotta go!"

"Aw, but look," the younger Elric said as reality crashed back down. "The signup ended a month ago."

"Great." Ed sighed in dismay. "Why do they always do that?"

"Maybe we can look around for something similar we can go to."

"But if all of them are like this, we can't afford to stick around for a _month_ to actually go," he muttered back.

They both stood there for a moment, trying to think of a solution. Ed was the one to finally square up with a determined look in his eye. "No, we're going to this one."

"They won't even let us through the door!" Al argued.

"Maybe, maybe not. We should at least attempt to go in."

Al stared long and hard at him before he sighed and conceded to his brother. "We can try, but, if nothing else, we can just research more in the West City library."

"He-hey!" Ed smirked in triumph. "Come on, let's go to the train station for tickets. The sooner, the better!"

Al quickly grabbed a scrap paper and pencil from a counter and scribbled down the details on the flyer, then both headed again for the door. Upon opening it, they blinked at seeing a friend about to enter.

Rillie ran after them as soon as her business with the police and robbers was taken care of. She happened to run _really fast_.

"Uh, hey, Rillie," Al greeted. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you guys," she replied immediately, grabbing their wrists and dragging them away from the door. She let them go once they were on a section of the library's lawn that wasn't close to anyone else so they could have relative privacy.

"What's wrong?" Ed asked, slight worry in his voice. She looked pretty upset, hopefully not with them.

"I wish I didn't have to ask this," she stated nervously, then dropped to a whisper, "but please tell me the truth: _Did you two try to bring someone back to life?_ "

Their jaws dropped, eyes widened, and backs leaned back in shock at the question. That was the _last_ thing they thought _anyone_ would _ever_ ask them- _ever_.

" _HECK NO!_ " both shouted.

"That would've killed us!" Al continued, looking slightly horrified.

"We're not complete idiots! We know that's something extremely stupid to pull!" Ed added angrily.

"Then how did you transmute without a circle?" she shot back.

Ed and Al blinked, then looked at each other. _Oh crap._

* * *

Rillie was now in her home, lounging on the living room couch but without the TV turned on. She was already occupied enough with the life-changing information looping around in her head.

In order for her to understand, they'd spilled the beans on _everything_ (though Ed believed the occasional fib was harmless, he really didn't want to full-on _lie,_ especially to a friend).

Now, she'd read her fair share of novels about alternate universes, but she never thought any actually existed (though, in a way, it made sense that any alternate universes of her home world wouldn't have alchemy).

She also had heard some basic stuff about alchemy (by now the taboos and their consequences were well-known and even warned about in public announcements at times), but she didn't know there was such thing as a big Gate. Especially one that could steal your body parts.

But, if _nothing else_ from their story caught her off guard, there was one thing... If they performed that kind of transmutation without a Philosopher's Stone (which, for all she knew, was just a legend authors liked to add into fantasy books), how'd they end up _unscathed?_

That was the million dollar question that both made her suspect they made up the incredibly strange tale to cover up the truth (and really had committed the taboo) and yet believe them all the more.

Whatever the case, they told her they were about to go west. They thanked her for everything and asked her to say bye to Milo for them too.

So... Was that it? After Ed and Al revealed where they came from and what they were doing there, they were just running off, gone forever? Would she never see them again?

She didn't want to sound selfish, but that just didn't seem fair.

However, she had no reason to just _follow after them,_ either. True, she was an adult and could leave home if she wanted to, but... She didn't know squat about science beyond what they forced into her head in high school, and even that was fading away. She would be of no help to them, and no help to that friend of theirs they went on this journey for in the first place... If they weren't lying about her.

 _Come on, what kind of teenager would say so much strange stuff if it wasn't true?_ Adolescents usually lost most of their imagination by that age- she doubted the brothers could make all that up. ...Could they?

She tried to stop her internal debate about whether they told the truth or not, already exhausted by it. _Brain, shut up already._

She heard a distant train whistle, effectively stopping the discussion by reminding her of something else.

Before they'd left for the train station, she'd quickly scribbled down her phone number on that little scrap paper Al already had out, ordering them to _at least_ call her when they were about to go home. She really hoped they'd call sooner than that, though- even better, see her in person. Even better, not leave Amestris. Even better, take her with them to-

Oh, no. Of course she didn't _actually_ wish that. That'd be a one-way ticket, no turning back home. It could kill her.

...But she hadn't started college, already had quit her measly job, didn't have any loans to pay off...

Really, beyond her family, did she have anything holding her back from leaving?

 _...Love for my country...?_

That sounded stupid, and she hadn't even said it out loud. She chuckled quietly to herself. Of course she liked Amestris- born and raised- but she probably wouldn't mind that much to live somewhere else.

She doubted her older brother could say the same. He was the most patriotic person she knew, and she knew a surprisingly large amount of people. _You'd think he was from the boondocks or something._

Speak of the Milo, he just came through the front door.

"Hey," he greeted with a lopsided grin to his sister. "Are Ed and Al still stuck in their hole?" he asked nonchalantly.

"No, they're not at the library anymore," she answered, having automatically deciphered what location he referred to. "They actually are taking the first train they can to West City. Asked me to say bye to you for them."

"Always on the move." He seemed a bit disappointed, but then his brown eyes lit up. "Hey! I was actually gonna go visit a friend that lives near West City over the weekend. It's his birthday on Saturday. Maybe I'll get to see them and they can actually say goodbye properly. But not before saying hello again, of course."

Rillie ignored his attempt at humor, focusing on what was said right before. "Can I come with?" she blurted out before she could stop herself.

He blinked and raised an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure? You generally don't like my friends."

She shrugged casually. "I haven't actually gone anywhere in a while, so why not?"

He quickly accepted her reason and was glad to bring his little sister along, babbling on about some different attractions in West City he could take her to. "It'll be great!"

"Yeah." _I sure hope so._ Sibling bonding time wasn't the only thing on her mind.

* * *

 **If you think about it... Ed and Al have been in Amestris for about... 3 days, I believe? And they're already going to the next city. I feel like that's really cool, for some reason- like, something I should be rooting about.**

 **Any suggestions for how soon I should finish up this story? I know this is probably gonna be longer than "Family History" because of switching between perspectives and such, but I don't really know how much longer I should let it be because of the same reason. I don't want to drag this on _too_ much, but I don't want to end it too soon either. ._.' Also, suggestions as to how to have cats in the future chapters would be greatly appreciated. XD**

 **I was originally just going to have Alt. I here (thanks, Scaehime, for the idea), but I quickly whipped up an Alt. J because of something special next chapter! :D This something special pleases me, and hopefully pleases all of you too. :3**

* * *

Alternate (Route) I:

"Hey, Brother?" Al said as he inspected the items in his backpack before they left for Amestris.

"Yeah, Al?"

"Do you think we should bring our phones?" he asked quietly. As he expected, Ed gave him a strange look.

"I doubt we'll actually be able to use them... And I don't want to break them by accident..."

"I know, but it wouldn't hurt to try using them. And we'd be able to play games on them in our free time..."

Ed sat there pondering the pros and cons of the proposition, then eventually resigned to his brother's wish. "If you really think it's a good idea, we'll bring one."

They quickly decided on just bringing Al's phone, since he didn't quite care about it as much as his brother did for his own. He tucked it into the backpack between his spare shirts, along with his charger.

* * *

"Man, I am so _tired,_ " Ed complained while they entered the inn room they were staying in meanwhile. Rillie's friend worked there so she convinced him to get them a discount; and luckily, said employee didn't ask for them to pay any money up front to stay there.

"Yeah," Al agreed simply, eyelids barely staying open.

"What time is it anyway?" Ed mumbled, reaching for his back pocket. He suddenly woke up more when he didn't find his phone there.

Al noticed the action. "Oh yeah, I forgot about our phones." He fought through his tiredness to dig through his backpack. He successfully retrieved his phone, which was completely unharmed. "I wonder if it has the time back home or the time here."

Upon turning the screen on, the clock said "7:36", but then it quickly reloaded to "10:36". The phone still had most of its battery, miraculously. Al was about to just put the device onto the nightstand, but then he caught sight of something on the top of the screen.

"Brother... I think we have service here," Al said, clearly surprised and a little excited.

"Eh?" Ed took the phone from him, and then wore the same expression. " _3 bars! What?!_ "

Sleepiness now forgotten, Al grabbed the item back and started doing something on the screen. "I'm gonna try calling someone."

"Al, if you try calling someone from home, we're probably gonna end up with some stranger with the same phone number here," Ed pointed out the obvious. He then facepalmed when he saw his brother's embarrassed face that said he already started the call. The younger Elric hesitantly held the phone to his ear and waited for an answer.

After a few rings, a female voice came out. _"...Hello?"_

Al's eyes grew wide, realizing it really was who he meant to call. "Is that you, Lily?!" he nearly-shouted incredulously.

 _"Yeah...?"_

Both Elrics glanced to each other with shocked expressions, then simultaneously started laughing hysterically- the kind of laugh that happens when you are drunk or tired out of your mind.

The other end stayed quiet, not sure what to say, though it almost seemed like an indignant silence.

When they finally calmed down, Al wiped a tear out of his eye and put the phone on speaker. "Sorry, Lily, we just didn't expect that."

 _"Wait- is that really you, Al?!"_ she said with a gasp. _"Oh my gosh, I thought someone had stolen your phone or something! You buttfaces!"_ They could hear both mild anger and huge relief in her voice.

"Naw, it's us."

"This is so crazy!" Ed yell-whispered, to which Al nodded eagerly in agreement.

 _"So where are you?"_

"Amestris!" both brothers cheered into the phone.

 _"What?! But then how am I talking to you right now?! Is this a prank?"_

"No, we're really here! Al just brought his phone along because he likes to play Flow."

"So do you!" The younger brother punched the elder's arm. "And I saw that I got signal here and wanted to try calling someone."

 _"Have you called your parents yet?"_

"No, you were the first I've tried."

 _"Dude!"_ she scolded. _"They're crazy worried about you and don't believe a word I say! You should call them!"_

"But imagine how much our mom will want to kill us!" Ed whined.

They could almost see her annoyed expression through the phone. _"With good reason! We all thought you might be dead_ _!"_

Upon hearing that, the brothers gulped and sobered up. Al spoke again in a more comforting tone. "Lily, we're just fine. We're about to go sleep for the night, and tomorrow we're hitting the library. We'll call our mom and dad in the morning, because otherwise they won't let us get some sleep," he said the last part with a small chuckle.

 _"Good,"_ Lily replied firmly. _"And before you hang up... Can you send me pics of Amestris?"_ she asked giddily.

"Yeah, yeah. Also in the morning. We're totally beat," Ed answered.

 _"K. Good night, guys,"_ she giggled. _"Sleep tight, ninja-kick the bugs before they bite!"_

"Bye, Lily," both chorused, one rolling his eyes and the other laughing.

* * *

Alt. I: Ed and Al's data plan works in Amestris. They call their family to let them know they're okay and text Lily some photos and updates of their experiences. Though she still misses them, at least she's able to live life relatively normally while they're gone.

* * *

Alternate (Route) J:

 _Alphonse could immediately spot how his brother knew where they were- little flags and other decorations surrounded them on the street and storefronts._

And every once in a while they could spot people wearing... sombreros?

Wait a minute.

They looked closer at everything taped or strung up, and realized they were _Mexican_ flags and doohickeys.

"Looks like Spanish class," Ed muttered, then gave his brother a confused look. "Did we end up in Mexico?"

"I doubt it, the people don't look Mexican," here Al returned a 'duh' look, "and neither does anything else besides the flags."

Ed looked sheepish but agreed as they went onto the sidewalk. There were several more people walking on the streets than the brothers were used to seeing, but they could still keep at their own pace fine.

Al then spotted something. "Brother, look at the back of that guy's shirt," he whispered, discreetly pointing at someone some yards ahead of them.

It said _'Make Fun of Mexicans Day!'_

They shared a glance, not even totally sure how to react.

"...Well," Ed finally started, "if we're really in Amestris... At least it seems the racism against the Ishvalans is done with."

* * *

Alt. J: They haven't seen _Nullmetal Alchemist_ yet, and so, when they land, they don't know that they're in a place that sounds very Nullmetal-y. They also don't know of the _fantastic_ things to come, like Alchemist's Christmas (which somehow survived all these years) and silly sound effects during transmutations. Oh, and people bursting into song for any reason.  


* * *

 **Why do I do this? Maybe because I thought Mexican Bald had to chill, too. I mean, if just people like _Roy Mustang_ were being stupid on "Make Fun of Mexicans Day" and not actually causing any harm, then it doesn't really matter. I dunno if my feelings would change if I was _more_ than half-Mexican, but that's my opinion in this universe. *shrug* (I hope I haven't just spoiled NMA too horribly.)  
**

 **Honestly, my own Mexican relatives have insulted me more than Amestrians would on a day like that. That's how they show love.  
Even strangers on the street might call you "Flaca", "Gorda", "Güera", etc. and they're not saying it to be mean. (PS- "Skinny", "Fat", "White", respectively. All would have an 'o' at the end instead of 'a' for guys.) *the more you know***

 **¡VIVA MÉXICO! K bai!**


	10. Chapter 10

**I'm finally a beta! :DDD I've ended up being absorbed into a group of girls that met here on FFN, acting as beta for stuff they're writing together. They're all pretty cool, though sometimes I kinda wonder if I'm the most sane there. XD**

 **It's things like this that make me realize just how differently I write from other people. For example, I love using dashes, for some reason. I don't think I'm even using them correctly half the time- or am I? XD**

 **I don't have anything written down for the next chapter, which meant I was originally going to write here how much that fact makes me freak out, but, as I was putting the extras into this chapter, I thought of what to write about in Ch. 11! :D YUS**

 **On with the chapter!**

* * *

Lily had a hard time deciding whether to pay attention in her Biology class or take the time being in there to work on Ed and Al's notes. They probably had a lot of science stuff in them, after all, and she could ask about something in them to the teacher. But... what if one of her questions ends up being answered during the planned lesson? Probably not, but could happen. She didn't want to not know what was on the homework, but she didn't want to half-listen, half-work. She wouldn't be able to focus enough to actually figure any of the notes out!

Her decision was made for her when she suddenly heard her teacher call her name. She looked up in surprise to see that Miss Connor, a typically chill woman, was giving her a slight look.

 _{_ _Miss Connor:_ _Biology and Honors Biology teacher. One of Lily's favorite teachers this year, even though she really likes all of them. She may actually have a role later in this story. Who knows?}_

"I'm sorry, could you repeat that, please?" Lily asked, feeling a bit shaky and warm under the stares of her fellow students.

"Could you just say what's here?" she replied, pointing with a little stick to something she'd doodled on the side board.

Lily shuffled up her thoughts so she could recall what she'd been taught earlier. "Oh, yeah. Uh, alveoli?..." She quickly went to her biology notebook for check her answer while Miss Connor returned to the rest of the class.

"That's right, these are alveoli," she started to explain loudly while Lily felt the surge of relief at getting both the correct answer and the close call.

She knew that was a warning that she should pay attention (even though it seemed this lesson was mainly review) but, before it was too late, Lily placed her notebook and the alchemy notes side by side and looked for any terms used in both. They probably wouldn't have anything in there related to high school Biology (though perhaps there was actually high school Chemistry), but it was worth checking out anyway.

Subconsciously, Lily was glad she could still think about the Elric brothers without thinking about the fact they were actually gone.

* * *

"You did _what?_ " Megan asked incredulously, completely befuddled by her mom's actions.

"Yes, I gave the notes to Lily," the woman repeated, using her calming tone.

"But- but _why?!_ " Clearly, the calming tone didn't work. "Why didn't you give them to _me?!_ "

"Because it seemed like a good idea?" she replied, confused by her daughter's incredulity.

Megan sighed sharply. "Mum, we both know that I'm smarter than her. And this is _my brothers_ we're talking about. And you already knew I wanted them!"

"But she was a good friend of them, and this could help her, even if she doesn't find something in the notes. I think she will, though, because she is smart. Maybe not _prodigy_ level," she gave a pointed look to her daughter there, "but still smart."

"Smart and _cuckoo,_ " Megan muttered spitefully, turning around to march right to her room.

"Don't forget you're going back to England tomorrow," the mom called after her helpfully. This statement made Megan freeze, turn quickly to gawk at her, and then race back.

"I'm going back _tomorrow?!_ "

"As much as I won't like being alone in the house, you need to get back to school," she explained softly.

"How am I supposed to concentrate on schoolwork if I know all this is happening in the States?" the girl whined.

"Figure something out, because your education is important," Mrs. Elric said with a tone of finality.

"No! I want to stay longer!"

"You need to go back!"

"I can't leave without the notes!" Megan full-on shouted.

"Yes, you can." Her mother put a tone of warning in her voice.

"No! I absolutely refuse to leave without the notes!" Megan emphasized by stamping her foot down.

"Alice!" her mother scolded.

" _Stephanie!_ " Her daughter used the same tone as she comebacked.

Mrs. Elric huffed, then folded her arms as if to show authority. "I don't know what's up with you lately, but I'm really not liking your attitude. We'll talk again later- but, _right now,_ go and start getting packed up."

Megan stomped away to her room again, knowing perfectly well "what's up" with herself. She could usually keep herself in check around adults, especially her parents, but the stress of knowing her brothers were gone was making her lose it.

* * *

Lily returned to eating with one of her old lunch buddies, who had re-welcomed her to his table happily. She was almost halfway through with her sandwich and intently listening to a kid called Joe tell the end to a funny story when, as she laughed, she glanced to her side and paused in surprise. She adjusted her glasses and refocused her attention, now sure of what she was seeing.

What was a kid from elementary school doing coming into the high school's cafeteria?

Wait- was that kid Ed and Al's _sister?_

Megan looked lost and like she was searching for a certain person. She turned to the first teen she found and started asking them something.

"Watch my stuff, please," she asked the girl sitting across from her as she stood up and climbed out of the bench seat.

"Sure. Where ya going?"

"To see what that girl wants. I know her."

Lily hurried her way to the cafeteria entrance. She had to get pretty darn close for Megan to finally spot her and sigh in relief.

"What are you _doing_ here?" she asked the bobbed girl.

"Looking for you," the girl replied simply as she started taking some folded paper out of her pocket, along with a pencil and pen. "I'm supposed to be going back to England later today, but I can _not_ go without the notes, and I know you have them."

Lily blinked and gave her a weird look. "Okay?..." Obviously, she wasn't quite sure how to respond.

"Don't worry, I don't plan to just _take_ them, but get a copy."

"As in, print out a copy? I think that'd take a while," the teen said, considering the fact that school computers are not exactly the fastest.

"Or I could copy everything down, if their writing is legible enough." Megan lifted up her writing utensils.

"True." Though, with the amount of things written, would it really save any time? Then again, if they used a copier, she might not even be able to read the words...

"So... where are they?" Megan interrupted Lily's contemplating, who blinked and then wore a sheepish look.

"I, uh, have them in my backpack." She silently motioned for Megan to follow her, if she so pleased, and turned back to the lunch group.

She quickly went to work opening her backpack when the girl she'd asked to watch her stuff said something.

"Hey, who's that?"

Lily looked up and glanced to Megan, who actually had followed and stood very close to the bench, as if, otherwise, the teenagers passing by would carry her away. "Oh, her name's Megan. Do you know Ed and Al? She's their sister." As she got the folder out of her backpack she added, "By the way, thanks for making sure no one stole my lunch."

"I think I do know them. Nice to meet you," she said to the youngest Elric with a little smile. She directed her attention back to Lily to say "No problem" before starting to eat again.

"Here it is," Lily said aloud as she pulled the notes out of the folder and handed them to Megan. "So... were you planning on sitting down here and copying, or what?"

"I _was,_ until I realized you sit at a crowded table," she muttered back, loud enough for Lily's lunch buddy to hear.

"Did you just talk in an accent?" he said in his goofy, bewildered way as he turned to the two brunettes. "That's so cool!"

Megan crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "Yes, I realize my voice is _such_ a novelty to you Americans."

Lily wanted to point out she was technically American herself, but instead just rolled her eyes back. "Excuse me, guys, but could you scooch over?" She made hand motions before starting to sit back down. The people to her left slowly moved as they passed on the message, leaving just enough room for Megan to sit next to her.

"Hey, what's a kid doing in here?" someone else questioned as more people started noticing the new guest.

Lily opened her mouth, then quickly shut it, considering what to even say.

She just went with: "Long story."

* * *

The next few minutes were spent with Lily answering questions about the British girl while said girl was trying to write as fast as possible.

Luckily, the group's attention was drawn away to another topic surprisingly soon. This relieved Lily, as she wasn't used to being the center of attention of the table.

Even more surprising, Megan managed to jot down everything- including the doodles- for all but the final page before the bell rang. She followed Lily all the way to her next class and used her desk to whip out the final words.

They both let out their breaths loudly in relief once the Elric stood up, signalling she was done writing.

The younger cleared her throat and looked away. "...Thanks for letting me see them."

"Thanks for not taking them from me," Lily countered quietly, making both smile a bit.

"I should get out of here. I'm sure we'll see each other again someday."

Lily nodded back. "Till we meet again."

The bell rang again, scaring the two girls. Megan frantically ran out the room while Lily frantically waved her off.

Again, a few friends (or at least acquaintances) asked her about Megan until the teacher came in from her break and told everyone to sit down.

 _Well,_ that _was an interesting hour,_ Lily mused. She learned a few things with Megan's arrival to the school, one being that the bobbed girl indeed had inherited the Elric determination everyone loved. _I mean, coming in the middle of the day (undoubtedly not checking in with the office and, therefore, trespassing) just to get a chance to talk to me before she goes? Respect!_

She learned that Megan had seemed to... _accept_ Lily? Forgive? Whatever it was, at least she wasn't glaring at her anymore. They could actually get the chance to work together, maybe, if it would actually help the whole situation.

And, last, she realized she should probably write her own copy of the notes, too. Of course she'd been taking extra care with the originals, but a spare copy wouldn't hurt.

* * *

 **Now that that's over, it's time for... *drumroll, please* an alternate written by- the one and only- Kenzie Perth! *men gasping and women fainting from surprise among lots of cheering***

 **Do you realize just how excited and flattered I am that my work inspired someone else to write something about it?! :')**

 **Since her name starts with a K, I decided her one-shot should be Alt. K! That's why I whipped up Alt. J real fast so I could do this. XD**

* * *

Alternate (Route) _K_ enzie:

Have you ever done something that you regret the moment the consequences come around knocking?

That tight, cold terrible lump deep in your chest, like a band wrapping around your diaphragm and squeezing out all the air?

Have you felt the panic and despair?

John Edward Elric knew very well the consequences that he and his brother might face.

The weight of it had just never hit him like it did now, a hammer blow to the chest, knocking reason and restraint right out of him. The black hands of the portal were snaking around him now in a horrible harmony of scales sliding over each other, scraping, crescendoing into nails on a chalkboard and his own fast breath ringing in his ears.

And then the hands pulled him in, and covered the light, and Ed dimly heard something - someone - shouting, screaming, pleading - and then whiteness.

And silence.

And the second Edward Elric stood firmly with both feet planted in Truth's Dimension.

Only a few seconds passed.

His eyes darted around, picking up inane details - the harsh blankness, the gate contrasting starkly against it, the seeming hush in the air - the sort that blankets your ears, like the silence after the heavy snow.

There was no beauty to it, only truth.

And speak of the devil:

"Hello, Mister Al-chem-ist."

The sound pierced the air, and John spun around to see the white being smiling at him.

It was not a good smile. It was the sort of smile that killers get just before they catch their prey.

"It's been quiet in here. I assume you know who I am?" The question didn't need an answer.

Ed responded anyway. "You-" he swallowed, "You are Truth."

The words dropped from his lips like heavy stones, bouncing on the white floor in all their awkwardness, plain for everyone to see.

The being grinned wider, if it was possible. "Correct. I am Truth. I am the world. And I - am you."

There was a terrible quiet emptiness that snapped into place after the words - and then a black hand snaked around his neck, and - was pulled backwards into a maelstrom of information. Before the doors closed on him, Truth waved. "Have fun, Mister Al-chem-ist."

And then, pain. Information. Transmutations - possibilities, consequences, results. Deconstruction and reconstruction. And pain.

He stood in front of Truth again, unsteady on his feet - "Please!" His voice cracked. "I don't want knowledge - I just want to get to Amestris. Please."

The Truth tilted its head. "There will be a toll, you know."

John's throat seized. "I - I know. Please. Send me and my brother through."

And the Gate opened, and the black hands pulled him through - to Amestris.

* * *

Alt. K: John and Matt meet Truth, and perhaps have a totally different adventure once on the other side of the Gate. Maybe they give a large toll... Maybe they meet different people... But they definitely get new experiences, that's for sure. (Kenzie Perth is also very awesome for writing this.)

* * *

 **Round of applause, ladies and gentlemen! :'D *encore, encore!***

 **I hope there weren't any spots you wanted italicized or something, Kenzie. ^^' Perhaps I should've done Truth's voice in italics, at least...**

 **And now, I give you some OMAKES! "WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!" you say? Yeah, I said I made some earlier. I was kinda hoping to make 10 since it's Chapter 10, but I ended up with 7. But, hey! 7's my favorite number! :D I rearranged them a bit so, hopefully, maximum funniness is achieved. And I hope these all actually count as omakes. *sweat drop* Free treat of your choice for every reference you understand! :D There's a reference in 4, though the last of those 4 isn't really just hinting at something but outright blurting it out. XD**

 **If you want to know how I even came up with these... I just don't know. They popped up in my head randomly, really. My train of thought sometimes jumps a lot, which is quite impressive, since trains shouldn't be able to jump.**

 **Have a lovely-dovely life! :3 K bai!**

* * *

Omake 1: Don't Adopt "Biggedy-Bam!" As Your Catchphrase Now

Ed turned to Rillie. "Hey, I wanted to ask you: Do you know any alchemy?"

She blinked back in confusion, but then her face quickly lit up in understanding and she gave a disbelieving chuckle. "You mean _magic?_ Wow, I've never heard someone call it _alchemy._ That word's only used in really old books."

The brothers glanced to each other, then rose their eyebrows to her. "What? Why?"

She rolled her eyes and scoffed. "Come on. 'Alchemy' just sounds so _pretentious_."

* * *

Omake 2: Where's Mung to Translate?

'Brother, do you understand a single word around here?' Al furrowed his eyebrows as he studied around them. The brothers had figured that the Amestrians would at least speak a language similar to ones they'd heard before back on Earth, like German or maybe Japanese... but this was unlike any realistic expectation.

Ed wasn't sure whether to laugh or be frustrated. 'Nope, they all sound like they're speaking Schnitzel.'

"RADDA RADDA RA!"

* * *

Omake 3: Except We're the Monsters

"Your country still uses stuff like _coal?"_ Rillie asked in surprise.

"Well, yeah, among other energy sources like solar power, wind power, oil... They've been inventing more eco-friendly sources, but so far it's all a little expensive," Ed explained, worried by her bewildered expression.

"It's strange how places can be so different," Rillie muttered in amusement to herself before turning back to the brothers. "You see, now we run on children's laughter."

"...Wait, _what?_ " the Elrics simultaneously questioned quite intelligently.

"Yeah. Obviously, people are still always going to be having kids, so we don't have to worry about running out, like with fossil fuels. Unless we end up in an apocalypse of some sort, I guess..." She shook her head and returned to the topic at hand. "Anyway- it was figured out a while ago how to harness the energy expelled in laughter into something usable for electricity."

"But..." Neither brother really seemed to be able to give a proper response at the moment.

"Well, a few decades ago it was actually children's _screams,_ but you can imagine the issues with that when it comes to ethics. Everyone was quite happy to find out laughter worked too, and actually worked even better."

This started sounding even stranger to Ed and Al, though the latter seemed to start realizing something.

"So when kids laugh, what happens to the power?" Al managed to ask, wondering if this was going in the direction he theorized it did.

"Oh, it would probably go bonkers and we'd have power outages all the time. That's why we actually import the resources from other countries, like Creta, and they get their energy from us. We have foreign kids to thank for the street lights, not Amestrian ones." She continued speaking with a chuckle, not really to anyone in particular. "I bet most of our electricity comes from Drachma. I've heard those mischievous Drachman kids are quite the little devils."

 _"Brother,"_ Al whispered to the blond next to him after he felt his thoughts confirmed by her answer. _"This is sounding a lot like_ Monsters, Inc _."_

* * *

Omake 4: This Is Worse Than Dad's Jokes

"Remember when your daughter mentioned that I'm a lot like you?" Mr. Elric said casually to Lily/lilaclily00's dad.

"No... She said that?" The blue-green-eyed brunet replied, surprised.

"Yes. I have almost the exact same job as you and have the same hobbies. I just happen to look different."

"Wait... So, since I've dragged my own family into this story, we have a pair of dads that are practically _clones_ running around?" Lily/lilaclily00 whispered from where she'd been listening to and writing down the conversation, eyes widening.

The two dads scrutinized each other for a second before smiling and simultaneously stating decisively, "Nifty."

Lily/lilaclily00 stood up abruptly. "NO! NOT _NIFTY!_ The world cannot _survive_ with two of you!" She wore a look of horror. This was her own fault for making Ed and Al's dad's character like that! "What have I _done?!_ "

Both dads looked to her and seemed to be about to protest how much she was exaggerating-

Then the planet exploded.

* * *

Omake 5: At Least It's Not a Gizzard

"Everyone in my family eats like this," Rillie chuckled. "We all have four stomachs like a cow."

"That kinda sounds like our dad," Al commented back, making Ed and himself laugh, remembering when their dad joked around like that when a particularly surprising amount of food was consumed.

It seemed like Rillie suddenly didn't know how to read someone's tone of voice, because she then got serious. "Your dad was born with extra stomachs, too?" she asked softly and understandingly.

* * *

Omake 6: Al's Such a Cat Lady (As If Lily's Any Better)

The pages of work done to create the transmutation circle were interesting to look at. It was easy to tell what Ed wrote and what Al wrote.

Lily first saw Ed's handwriting- quite messy and large in size, though better than most boys. The paragraph he'd written confused her until she realized he was using a code of some type. _Wow, that's impressive. They went all out._ It seemed like it involved the periodic elements somehow.

She then looked for Al's handwriting (which was a little bit neater than his brother's and looked tall in a way), wondering if he used the same sort of code. Surprisingly and yet unsurprisingly, he didn't.

He used cat names instead.

Ed must've not checked over his younger brother's work; otherwise, Al _never_ would've gotten away with that.

Lily broke Al's code easily.

* * *

Omake 7: The Hero Amestris Deserves

Near the end of his journey through the Gate, a face with purple eyes stared at him and whispered, _"What_ are _you?"_

Al whispered back, _"I'm Batman."_


	11. Chapter 11

**Yo yo yo! :D I think I'd thought of something interesting to write here yesterday, but I can't remember what it was anymore. Oh well.**

 **I'm glad you enjoyed the omakes, author! :3 I hope anyone else that read last chapter (haven't looked at the views for this story lately) enjoyed them too!**

 **I was excited when I realized this next chapter was a train chapter. Last time I wrote a train chapter was in "Ed the Cat". So, of course, the only course of action is to refer to "Ed the Cat" in this chapter. This is not an essential chap, to be honest, but it was fun to write, and it's nice to just see Ed and Al hanging out together for once in VH.**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Matt gazed around in fascination as he and his older brother hesitantly stepped into the train taking them to West City. They had heard that these trains were actually bullet trains, like the public transportation back home, but they'd kept them looking as old-fashioned as they could. The outside was round and smooth, but had dark green paint and gold detailing, hand-distressed to look vintage. The inside also kept a vintage color scheme despite the modernization (which, luckily, meant the seats weren't so hard and painful like they were a hundred years ago). The signs with helpful reminders like 'No Smoking' were all wood and hand-painted. There was a warm, inviting feeling in the vehicle, like an old lake cabin, a stark contrast to the usual air the shiny white trains gave back home. It was a cool, interesting way of combining old with new that the brothers could definitely appreciate.

Knowing they would be there for the entire ride, the Elrics raced to get seats next to each other and take out their books before the compartment got packed. To give themselves a chance to relax and take their minds off their research, they'd actually checked out a novel each from the library before checking out of their room and boarding the train. The books seemed a little odd, but they were in the 'Popular' section- and, who knows, maybe the Amestrian idea of written entertainment would be pretty different than the American, and therefore they'd experience more of the culture.

"You're totally sure we're on the right train, right, Brother?" Al whispered nervously.

"Of course, Al, I checked 5 times. That's better than Santa." Ed nudged his arm. "But if you're still worried, I think there's a map on that wall over there."

Matt lifted his head and strained to see what his sibling talked about. There it was, over the head of a hobo-ish man diagonally to the right of them. He didn't want to get up and risk losing his seat, so he just squinted. Well, he could see a green line on the map going horizontal, which seemed right... The red line was the one going to the north, and he was sure they went on the green train. _Good thing, because I do_ not _want to deal with snow if I don't have to; we get enough back home._

"Happy?" Younger brother glanced to older, who was holding one eyebrow higher until his question was answered.

"Yeah, I guess."

"We'll be here a while, so just go ahead and get comfy and start reading."

Al nodded back and did just that.

* * *

There were gonna be a few short stops within the current city before they really raced toward the west. The stopping wasn't exactly helping Ed focus on his book, and neither did his brother when he suddenly made a weird giddy noise.

" _Cat!~_ "

"What?" came his immediate reply as he looked up to Al, to see that Al was staring at someone that just barely boarded. He followed the line of vision and saw that, indeed, there was a person by the sliding doors that was carrying a cat in their arms.

"It's so _cute!_ " Matt gushed quietly. John rolled his eyes at him until logic hit him in the face.

"Wait, pets can't be allowed on here, right?..."

A stranger actually voiced what he just said but louder, pointing the fact out to the cat owner. The owner, a nervous blond with a blonde woman at his side, apologized back.

"Animals are allowed if they're in carriers, but we don't have one for him. But, honestly, I'm sure he'll behave fine anyway..." the owner tried to explain.

"How weird would it be if I tried to pet that cat?" Al whispered to Ed.

"Very."

Ed clamped his hand over Al's mouth when he started to whine softly in disappointment.

"Shut it."

Al said a muffled _"But-"_

 _"Ssshh."_

He grunted in acknowledgement, with a clear tone of annoyance and frustration.

"Good."

* * *

"Ew, gross! You licked my hand!"

"Payback!"

* * *

The elder Elric had been worried about the cat. And not just because someone in the corner was sneezing horribly because of it.

It was staying still quietly for now, but, with a cat, you never knew if it's going to take a nap or explode and run around like nuts.

He got through a few chapters of the book (which was looking to not really be that interesting, and he had therefore concluded with the over-generalization that all Amestrian authors were _LAME_ ) before he sighed and put it down.

He glanced over to see the younger Elric staring at him from the corner of his eye.

He just nodded back.

Al cracked a smile as he looked away again, discreetly eyeing the cat.

"Why do you love cats so much, Al?"

"Uh, they're awesome?" He made a 'duh' look.

"But, I mean, it's not normal. You act like _Lily_ just thinking about them."

Al snorted and gave Ed a disbelieving look. "Really?" He then paused to think about it and snorted again as he tried to not laugh. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"One Lily is enough, I don't need two around." Ed huffed, crossing his arms.

The other Elric seemed about to comeback when something caught his attention. Ed followed his gaze to see that the cat had jumped off its owner, who was frantically whispering and waving it to come back, and steadily walking around people, heading towards them.

"It's coming here!" Al nearly squealed, then started motioning it to get closer, making the _"pshpshpsh"_ noise people use to attract dogs and cats.

"He's gonna get mad!" Ed scolded, glancing to the worried owners who were wondering how they were supposed to get through the now-thick crowd in the train to retrieve their pet.

"I'll get it back to them, don't worry." By now, the cat had reached them and, surprisingly, started rubbing up against the brothers' legs. Al grinned and promptly lifted the cat onto his lap, who meowed in surprise and protest.

The cat was all orange (though a shade of orange so light it looked yellow) with yellow eyes. They weren't sure why, but both brothers caught a glimpse of something in its eyes that showed intelligence- a mischievous intelligence.

"You're a really cute cat," Al chirped as he pet the feline, who squirmed about uncomfortably, but didn't bother trying to escape the teen's grasp.

Ed rolled his eyes at his stupid little brother, eventually scratching behind the feline's ear for a second before returning to his book.

He was surprised to feel fur on his arm, and glanced over to see that the cat started walking off Al's lap and onto his own. The cat settled nicely and sat in front of the book.

John sighed and lifted the book back into view, but the cat's head followed it. He eventually scoffed and just held the book farther in front of him so the cat wouldn't block him anymore and he could still manage to read.

"Why are you hogging the cat?" Al whined. His brother gave him a disbelieving look.

"You think I _want_ the cat here? I'm just too lazy to move it."

"Hey, look- it's like it's reading," Al said with a look of wonder. Ed looked back to the cat to see its eyes glued to the pages of his book. He passed it off as the cat being weird and just read. His younger brother, though still a bit disappointed the cat favored Ed, followed suit with his own book.

When he made a move to flip to the next page, the cat quickly placed a paw on the edge of the page. He finished scanning the words before dropping his paw again.

The elder Elric wore a strange look on his face, trying to comprehend, but he flipped the page anyways. He glanced to his sibling, furrowed his brows, and then covered the top paragraph with his hand to see how the cat would react.

It instinctively pushed his hand away with its paw, unhappy until all the words were uncovered again.

"Al, you seeing this?" he whispered in amazement, now pretty sure the cat was actually reading... Or, at least, pretending to like a pro.

"What?" He glanced away from his book.

"It's... _really reading._ "

The cat looked over to both of them, then rubbed up against Al's arm again before leaving.

It glanced back again, giving what somehow looked like a smirk.

The blond was suddenly infuriated. "Oh my gosh, it was _screwing_ with us!"

* * *

They were now in the West state of Amestris, but there were a few stops before they reached West City. While John was glad to see some people get off the train, he was not so pleased that many more got on.

Yeah. Not so great to have someone's butt in front of his face.

The situation was _even better_ because, apparently, the cat was _claustrophobic_ or something. Unless it actually felt insulted by that grumpy guy who said something about it being hotheaded. Maybe it was both. At this point, anything could be possible with that darn cat.

Whatever it was, it was making the cat go crazy, hissing and swiping at everyone around it.

The cat's owners were cautiously attempting to grab it before someone got injured without getting scratched themselves, throughout the process attempting to talk sense into the kitty.

It was a relief to everyone when the intercom came on, announcing they were nearing another stop.

About half of the occupants of the compartment threw themselves out the sliding doors the moment they could. The cat itself even tried to follow those people out, but it didn't beat the doors before they closed again.

"Come on, already!" The owner pleaded to the feline, whose ear flicked to show it actually heard but wasn't planning on obeying.

It looked over to the brothers with its yellow eyes. It started nearing them, but Ed quickly took care of that.

He leaned forward threateningly and commanded a loud "NO."

The cat stepped forward. " _NOOO._ "

It paused hesitantly before lifting a paw again. "Don't you _dare._ "

To surprise the cat, Ed grabbed hold of the nearest pole, waited a few seconds, then quickly rushed forward. He laughed victoriously as the cat jumped and returned to its owners. The blond and blonde flashed him a grateful look as they gathered the cat in their arms and berated it for its behavior.

"Brother, did you really have to scare it away?"

"Al, _seriously?!_ Even after seeing it lashing out at everyone just a few _minutes_ ago?!"

* * *

As Milo drove himself and Rillie to West City, the younger pondered aloud at some point.

"I wonder if anything interesting happened to Ed and Al on their train."

Milo glanced over to her with an incredulous yet amused look. "Really? Nothing even _remotely_ 'interesting' happens on the trains."

* * *

 **This next alternate is L. Since that's an awesome letter of the alphabet, I wanted to make sure this was _awesome._ I think this is influenced by Alt. K and another alternate Scaehime suggested once. Now, this would follow more the Brotherhood timeline even though this story leans more toward 2003 anime, but hey! It could still happen, right?**

 **I know what's going on in Ch. 13, but next chapter's _12_ , and I just don't even know what Lily's next move is. At all. WhatdoIdo?! ;-; Guys, please make a suggestion for something that could happen on our side of the Gate! I'd really appreciate it!**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) L:

 _He dropped onto solid ground, but didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience._

John and Matt finally started waking up when some loud clinking and clanking sounded in front of them. John groggily opened his eyes, wincing at the brightness, hotness, and dryness of wherever they were. He squinted to see that there was a suit of armor in front of him, along with walls on both sides of him and-

 _Wait-_ the realization actually registered in his mind- _a SUIT OF ARMOR?!_

He nearly screamed as he sat up and backed away, gawking at the metal man before them.

He nudged his brother, who gave him a sleepy, confused look, but quickly came to the same realization and yelped as he too scooched back, wide eyes staring at the armor.

"Sorry I scared you," the looming armor apologized in a young voice. "Are you okay?"

Both John and Matt gaped, still can't believing just what was happening. John was inclined to pinch himself.

 _"Don't tell me you found another cat, Al,"_ an annoyed voice said loudly as it neared the alley. A very familiar blond kid poked his head out from behind the armor, immediately donning a surprised look when he saw that his younger brother was actually in front of _people._

"What are you doing there?" he asked, eyebrow raised. "Are you guys okay?"

"Um, yeah, I-I think so," John eventually replied, blinking hard.

"Are you... the _Elric brothers_...?" Matt squeaked out.

The suit of armor clinked, then nodded. He seemed to finally understand why the teens were so shocked.

"Yeah, we are!" the braided blond proudly announced with a grin. "I'm Edward Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist! And this is my brother, Alphonse!" He pat the side of Al's armor as he introduced him, making a metallic echo.

"What are your names?" Al asked politely, holding his hand out to help the two up.

"Oh, I'm E- _John_ ," the elder corrected quickly, doubting their nicknames would be best at the moment.

"I'm Matt," his brown-haired brother said with a small, nervous smile, accepting Alphonse's hand to pull himself up off the ground.

"So, you're okay?" Ed asked again, understandably worried about them.

John was about to tell them yes when Alphonse interrupted.

"You must be starving. We can get you a meal, if you'd like."

Ed gave his brother a discreet confused look while Matt refused. "Oh, no, we're fine-"

Al started walking away, bidding them to follow him. John and Matt shared another glance. They brushed the dust off their backpacks and hesitantly went after him.

"Hey! Wait up!" Ed quickly caught up to the group.

Matt glanced over to the side, and saw that, in another alley, there laid a black-haired guy clad in yellow and white.

* * *

Alt. L: They are not just dimension-travelers, but time-travelers. Ed and Al find them instead of Ling Yao in Rush Valley. Just how much are they going to change in the timeline, and how much are they going to reveal to their ancestors? Will they actually find what they're looking for in the _past?_


	12. Chapter 12

**I ultimately skipped Ch. 12, cuz I just couldn't think of anything interesting Lily could** ** _possibly_** **be doing. So, we're still on Ed and Al, just 2 days later on** ** _ze day of ze seminaire!~_** **(They were probably just wandering around West City and checking out its library after they got off the train, so didn't bother writing about it. XD)**

 **I was so excited to finally write this! See, this is about what I guess could be called a headcanon? I've actually hinted at it a few times, especially in the first chapter, but I guess they might've only been obvious to me? ._.**

 **Sucks, though, that this chapter ended up pretty short. ;-; COME ON, ME! *mental self-slap* ...Ow?**

 **Whatever. On with the story!**

* * *

"Now, Dr. Stride will demonstrate basic alkahemy," Dr. Orbit announced after he'd given his lecture on some medical instruments he'd brought into the room.

 _{_ _Dr. Orbit and Dr. Stride:_ _a pair of doctors that joined up to teach every once in a while. While their techniques and equipment differed from each other, they worked well together, in a sense.}_

Al hurriedly finished writing up some notes he'd taken so he could pay special attention to the next part. He and his older brother had never been interested in becoming doctors, but the tech and science behind Amestrian medical work was _fascinating;_ they couldn't help but write down everything!

But this was the topic they were waiting for: alkahemy.

Dr. Stride stepped up as his partner sat down and drank some water. He wore a little smile as he scanned the room. "Now, to do the demonstration, I'll need a volunteer."

Ed's hand immediately shot up in excitement, and he nudged Al to raise his hand too.

"Someone who wouldn't mind a prick in the finger," the lab-coated man added, causing a few of the hands to go down, but the Elrics persevered.

The doctor hummed as he looked around for a good volunteer, and eventually settled for pointing to Al Elric. Both brothers quietly flipped out together as the younger moved out of his seat and fast-walked to the presenter.

"What is your name?"

"Matt."

"Well, Matt, let me tell you what we're going to do," Dr. Stride announced with a... stride... to his equipment. "With this circle, I will heal a cut on your finger," he explained as he held up a paper on which was drawn a very neat yet relatively simple transmutation circle, something that looked somewhere in-between alchemy and alkahestry. "Unless you already happen to have a cut, though, we're going to have to make one."

"I don't mind," Al replied. After all, it didn't really matter if it was just going to be healed up again a moment later, did it?

The doctor went to drawing the same transmutation circle on the whiteboard, but much bigger, so he could show and explain all the details of it to the other occupants of the room, who were all intrigued and taking notes. He noted that Matt and the young man still seated who looked to be his brother were following along perfectly fine- perhaps even better than some others- and looked very interested in what he had to say.

They both actually looked a little too young to be here, as this was aimed at adults at least old enough to be in college. He brushed it off as them just being baby-faced; he'd met a few college students that looked as young as them but were actually older. This was probably the same case.

After the circle was fully dissected into all its components, he turned back to his volunteer. He quietly asked Matt if he wanted to cut his own finger or let the doctor do it for him, but the young man said he'd be fine doing it himself.

With the tiny knife in his right, Matt placed his left hand against the nearest hard surface and slowly brought the knife to one of his fingers. He carefully broke the skin with the sharp tool, just enough so the 3 millimeter cut released a bead of blood, but nothing more.

"Perfect," the doctor muttered, taking the knife back and wiping it clean. "Now, come over and put your hand on the circle."

Matt obeyed and laid his hand on the paper with the transmutation circle, which was now on a table, with his cut facing up.

Dr. Stride repeated aloud the important things to remember when doing a transmutation before placing his fingertips against the edges of the circle and activating it.

Blue alchemical sparks shot from the paper, surrounding the doctor's and volunteer's hands. The light show continued for a few more seconds before it died down. Everyone was prepared for Matt's hand to be raised in the air, showing it was indeed healed, but...

Dr. Stride just stood there, staring at the hand in confusion.

"It didn't work..." Matt whispered.

* * *

Al was not sure how to react at first. Did the man just mess up something small? Did the circle not work on the first try all the time? Or was there really something _wrong_ here?

Without a word, Dr. Stride placed his fingers on the circle and activated it again, letting the transmutation go for longer this time, hoping it'd do the trick.

It didn't.

Dr. Stride was somewhere between shock and anger. He inspected the circle again, counting off the different parts of it in his mental list, and it was all there. Just _what_ was _going on?!_

The ones attending the seminar remained confused and slightly disappointed. Ed was the only one to catch the underlying expression in his little brother's eyes, even from a distance- _panic._

The usually calm Dr. Stride made his first rash decision in a long time: he quickly grabbed the knife and nicked his own finger. Everyone's eyes grew wide when they realized he was going to transmute himself.

He moved Al to the side and transferred his own cut hand to the circle, placing his other fingers on the edge of the circle to activate it. Everyone stared, very quiet, as he did the transmutation, not daring to even breathe.

The blue sparks stopped flying, and the doctor inspected his hand. He wiped away the blood that had already run out of his cut before the transmutation, and saw that he had succeeded in knitting together his skin again, leaving his finger without a scratch.

The tense silence of the room was deafening, as the unspoken question hung in the air... _What happened?_

The door suddenly opened, the hinge and doorknob sounding very loud. The oblivious lady that had been outside poked her head in. "Just informing that it's time for the lunch... break..." She finally noticed that the atmosphere was very dense and off. She frowned slightly. "Is there something wrong?"

"Everyone return here in half an hour," Dr. Orbit announced as he stood up from his seat near the corner, dusting himself off casually, hoping to break the awkwardness of the situation. "We will continue with some more alkahemy, then a Q and A."

Quiet conversations finally started up again in the group of attendees, and a few started standing up to get food. Everything finally seemed to return to normal as young adults filed out of the room.

Ed and Al were among the last to leave, the former having discreetly pocketed a page of his notes on the way out.

* * *

"Al, I've got a theory." Ed unfolded the page as soon as he and the other Elric sat down with their cheap plastic-wrapped sandwiches. He pointed to a certain list of numbers. "He said these are the components of the human body. Not that my memory is perfect, but I think they're a little off."

Al skimmed through the list, and realized his brother was right- the ratios were slightly different to the ones back home. There was barely a difference, but maybe it was still enough of a tweak to matter.

"If he was thinking with these proportions, then maybe that was why the alchemy didn't work on you," the elder continued.

"So you're saying he's wrong?"

Ed shook his head. "He was still able to transmute himself, so he was right. But it was wrong for _you._ " He leaned forward on the table, holding himself up with his arms. "I've been wondering for a long time. We're from _pretty far away,_ perhaps far enough away to be fundamentally different from people here."

Al felt a memory suddenly slam him in the face. "You're right!" He blinked as he realized he said that a little too loud. He slowly sunk down in embarrassment as people gave him odd looks. Ed nodded for him to explain the outburst and Al started talking in a much lower volume.

"That was why nothing was taken from us at the Gate. The souls didn't even know what to make of our bodies and left them alone."

Ed's eyes lit up and he slowly began to grin. "Al, you little genius."

"You're the genius," he countered with a little sly smile.

After a few seconds of thinking, Ed frowned again. "Wait, so... what does that mean for us? For _Ryan?_ "

"I guess we'd have to figure out how to adjust alkahemy so it would work on her."

Both brothers sat silent for a moment, thinking about how long that could take.

"Aw, great. This project just got even harder," Ed said with a deep sigh.

Al nudged him. "Hey, we still got this, Brother. At least we found this out before we went back home."

The elder brother sighed again, but nodded to the younger and picked up his sandwich. "Let's eat fast so we can go learn some more alkahemy."

* * *

 **At the first line break during the chapter, I hope you gasped dramatically. XD**

 **Dr. Orbit and Dr. Stride were** ** _totally_** **not named after gum. XD I'm not big on gum, actually, especially since I don't really like mint. *fuchi face* I tend to dislike things that make people be like O.o when I tell them. I know I'm weird, but, for some of these things, I tend to think** ** _everyone else_** **is weird. What is** ** _appealing_** **about *insert something I don't like*?!**

 **I wonder if either Ed or Al noticed the numbers being off while they were researching in the library a few days ago. If they did, then they might've seen the headcanon coming... XD**

 **To make up for the length of the chapter, I thought, "Maybe I can even it out with an alternate!" Then the alternate ended up being pretty short. -_- Sorry, guys. This is all I've got for now. And who knows how updates will be once school starts next week! (New school- wish me luck!)**

 **Happy End of Summer Break! (More like "Sad"! ;-;) K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Ending) M:

 _"Let's get this done now. Dad's gonna get here soon."_

John and Matt reached to the first circle, then glanced up and gave each other soft, but confident, smiles. They pressed their hands down on the circle to activate it. And...

Nothing happened.

"...We _are_ doing this right, right?" Al eventually questioned out loud after both had continued trying to get the transmutation up and running for a few minutes.

Ed wore a very, very frustrated look. "Are you freaking _kidding me?!_ "

They kept trying until they heard the door upstairs open, signaling that their dad just came home. They hung their heads in defeat and quickly started picking everything up.

* * *

Alt. M: They can't do alchemy, alkahestry, _or_ a combination of the two. They just can't even. Ed and Al remove all traces of what they were doing from the basement and their rooms, and spend some time afterward futilely trying to come up with something _else_ they could do to help out Ryan.


	13. Chapter 13

**I can't believe it. I just barely realized this morning that I liked the name Rillie because it sounds a lot like Lily. ._. ARE YOU SERIOUS, ME?! *facepalm* Yeah, maybe I should've thought of this stuff before I stuck with both her name and Milo's.**

 **But realizations like those are what aided me in creating the next alternate, N! It's actually quite a long alternate and could probably stand as its own chapter... But I decided to just have it at the bottom of this one.**

 **I thank author12306 for being so awesome and helping me figure out what to write in this chapter AND the next! :D U 2 COOL, BRUH. :3**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Lily had to do an assignment on the school computers. Most of the students were using Microsoft Word, but, when she could get away with it, she preferred using Google Docs instead, since that meant she could access her work from home, too. It was then that she had the idea of creating a document and sending it to Megan's email address so they could discuss their findings in relation to the Elric Brothers.

By this point, Lily believed she'd cracked most of the meaning behind Ed and Al's words. Of course, now they were a whole new different kind of confusing, as she realized they were more well-read in science and alchemy than she expected and used terms she wasn't even slightly sure she knew the meaning of. Never in her life had she endured attempting to understand something that made her brain hurt so much for so long.

She typed in the shared doc her attempt at decoding the notes, along with some of her theories and references. To her delight, Megan quickly replied back in the same day, and they spent a few hours at their computers having full typed conversations about the subject they had dubbed "John and Matt's Lapse of Intelligence" (or just "Their Stupidity" for short).

To both girls' surprise, Megan had come up with similar conclusions and it didn't take long for both to be on the same page.

 _'I'm more smarticles than I thought!'_ Lily had written on the realization.

 _'you don't sound so smart anymore if you say that'_ was the reply.

With their combined effort, they could understand better what Ed and Al's ramblings even meant. There were still some Latin words and symbols to look up, but, by now, they got the gist of the final circle (which Lily had copied down before Mrs. Elric wiped off the chalk on the basement floor). It seemed to be less complicated than it looked.

 _'Wait... So they ended with drawing the pentagon and star instead of all that other fancy poo... Simplest is best at times, I guess.'_

 _'if that's the case, maybe we can pull it off ourselves'_

 _'O.O WHAT'_

 _'if it's as easy as you say,'_ Megan repeated in different wording, _'we can go drag their sorry butts back here!'_

 _'Or die!'_

 _'you need to grow a pair'_

 _'You do hear the words coming out of your mouth, right? ...Eh... See the words coming out your keyboard. This is really dangerous, and it's so easy for things to go wrong.'_

 _'if my idiot brothers did it, i think we can too'_

 _'Elrics are born geniuses, so of course you guys can do it.'_ Lily paused for a moment as she thought of what to say. She eventually erased her last sentence and replaced it with, _'What about the toll?'_

It was a few minutes before Megan actually typed anything back.

 _'i don't know'_

Lily blinked. _Wow, she's actually admitting she doesn't know something._ She looked around her as she contemplated all the pros and cons- mainly cons- of attempting anything of the sort. The beginnings of many fanfics came to mind unwillingly. They weren't the pretty beginnings.

She returned to the screen with blinking cursors, and realized the other girl had already added to her statement.

 _'but i think it'll be worth it'_

A sad frown came upon her face when she realized that was exactly what Ed had said just a few weeks ago. _Why do I have to deal with Elrics?_ she thought with a sigh. _It's hard to convince them of anything._

Hesitantly, she typed, _'On a scale of 1-10, how badly do you want to do this?'_

 _'9.5'_

She knew it wasn't worth it to try to hold Megan back. Did she even deserve to try to do that? She wasn't her mom... and she wasn't even sure if they were friends.

 _'...How about you start with simpler transmutations before attempting anything big like John and Matt?'_ she replied unsurely, making sure to not use the brothers' nicknames.

Megan started frantically typing about her excitement and her ideas for circles. Lily sat slouched, her hands rubbing her face in a worrisome fashion, a nearly pained expression showing on her features. _I can't believe I just gave an 11-year old permission to do something that can leave her disfigured- or worse._

* * *

Lily stared at the paper.

She'd drawn a transmutation circle on it- used the compass thing and rulers and everything- and then carefully placed a medium-sized pebble in the middle of it. It was a circle that, as far as she knew, would change the shape of the rock. There wasn't really that much information about alchemy (and especially not alkahestry) online, but she did the best she could with that info to create her circle.

Now, it was her decision whether to try activating it or not.

She'd had to make tough decisions before, but they seemed to pale in comparison to this.

She could feel her gut wrenching as she gazed at the circle, screaming at her that this was a bad idea. She didn't know guts could scream.

She tried to tell herself, _"I'm probably going to be fine as long as I keep things on this side of the Gate..."_ but that wasn't helping much. _"I can do good, like fix or heal!"_ wasn't working, either.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, just to imagine one last time what was probably gonna happen. She'd visualize energy being all around her, in objects and in the air (for some reason, her imagination decided chi was a translucent, watery green), and then make the energy get pulled in by the circle and swirl around the rock, morphing it-

No. As cool as it'd be to be able to do this, she just couldn't.

With that careful decision made, she then suddenly made a rash one: she quickly ripped the paper in half, letting the pebble drop onto the table with a thump.

* * *

Megan glanced to her bedroom door once more, then smirked as she laid her fingertips on the edge of a circle she'd made herself.

It's true that she was quite new to the concept of alchemy, but Lily had told her a little bit of what she understood about the art. She'd also explained that there was influence from purification arts in her brothers' work, which is probably necessary for anyone around here to be able to make a transmutation. She'd taken that into consideration when making the circle- perhaps not as much as she should've, but something is better than nothing, right?

She focused all of her on the circle and, bringing to mind the equation the circle was supposed to represent, she ordered the circle to start doing its job.

A few minutes of giving alchemy her all, and it did not give anything back.

Was she doing something wrong? Did she need to be more knowledgeable? Or was she actually _incapable?_

She really wanted to react violently due to her anger at the stupid little circle that was just _staring_ at her innocently as if it did _nothing!_ And it really _did_ do nothing, which was _infuriating!_ It didn't just _do_ _nothing_ with her idiot brothers!

She instead just slumped to her bed, squeezing her hands into fists, thinking that perhaps she could manage to do it later.

 _Or never._

* * *

 **Did you guys know it's pretty impossible to find the movie _Enchanted_ for free online? I managed to find the first half of it on Youtube, but anything that showed the second half? Zilch. I mean, there were some sites on Google that claimed you could watch the movie free on them, but I'd really rather not take the risk of them possibly paying me and/or causing things to happen to the laptop. My _sister's_ laptop.**

 **K, so the alternate I'd been raving about earlier! A while ago I read the story "FMA Loops", which is interesting and pretty funny, to be honest. I really liked reading through, wondering what was gonna happen next. So I had the idea that I could take a shot at it myself. The scenes are pretty short and there's really not that many in comparison to its inspiration, but I spent awhile on this, so I hope you guys like it!**

 **Note that every time there's a scene change, there's also a large time skip. Much more happened within and between, this is just a little look into what kinds of things were going on.**

* * *

Alternate (Loop) N:

John blinked, his brain not quite catching up with reality, as he suddenly sat at an innocent cafeteria table, lunch spread out in front of him. His brother was too busy eating a sandwich to notice anything was up with the blond.

"Hi!" Ed jumped at the noise, it having surprised him as he was still trying to figure out what was going on. He whipped his head around to see a very familiar girl with long, dark hair and glasses stand there, one who was usually shy but once in a while pushed herself to talk to people.

"Hi..." Matt responded, giving his brother a secret confused look. By now he seemed to notice Ed's expression of quiet distress.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she said to Ed with a little apologetic laugh before she turned back to the other Elric. "Your name is Al, right?"

"Yeah."

"I'm in the same Chemistry class as you."

"Oh yeah! ...Lily?" As the girl nodded, John seemed to finally have caught up with what the situation was. _This was when they'd met Lily!... obviously._

 _But how and why is history repeating itself?..._

"Brother!" Ed, again, jolted as he realized now he'd drifted off with his thoughts. "You spaced out."

"Oh yeah, sorry." He looked to Lily, who seemed to suddenly start getting back into her shy shell. "Nice to meet you," he told her with a smile. She blinked, then replicated the sentiment, and quickly went back to the the normal conversation she'd originally had with Al.

When she left, Al quickly went into serious mode with Ed. "What's wrong, Brother? You're acting kinda weird all of a sudden."

The older sibling sighed. "I was getting a major case of déjà vu."

Al raised an eyebrow. "Déjà vu? Why?"

"Because I'm pretty sure this exact situation has already happened," he explained carefully.

Al went into his look of deep thought for a moment. He eventually broke out when he decided what to say. "I personally don't feel the same thing, but, if it's really bugging you, maybe I can help you try to figure out why."

One corner of John's mouth lifted up. "Thanks, Al."

The younger sibling leaned forward on the table with his elbows as support. "So, what do you say to watching the show she was talking about after school?"

* * *

 _(Loop 2)_

John was suddenly standing in the middle of a preschool/kindergarten.

 _Wh-what?_ He looked down to himself, and saw his body had shrunk down all the way to the small, pudgy one of a 5-year-old, a plastic stegosaurus in his hand.

He quickly ran- stepping over and around toys and little kids- trying to see if he could find his brother. "Al?" he squeaked, wincing at his own voice. "Where are you?"

"Bwother!" He turned around to see a 4-year-old that looked a lot like his little brother come waddling at his call.

"What?" Al asked simply once he reached his sibling.

Ed opened his mouth to say something, but then realized he had no idea what to say. _I can't blurt out "Why am I five?" or something!_

"Ooh!" Al suddenly cooed, eyeing the dinosaur his brother had forgotten he'd been holding. He quickly reached and snatched it up right out of Ed's hand.

"Hey! That's mine!" Ed said before he could stop himself. He pouted and squeezed his hands into fists. "Give it back!"

"No!"

"That's _so_ uncool, Al!" he said as his teenagerness came out, even as he lunged to steal the dinosaur back.

He temporarily forgot he was supposed to be wondering why he was here in the tug-of-war over the toy.

Once he managed to win it (and then tried to stop Al from screaming in anger), he fiddled with the plastic dino as he contemplated his situation.

 _So far, this is all in my past... Maybe, if I'm dying, this is my life flashing before my eyes? Why am I dying? Why are the flashes not flashes, but longer?_ He couldn't exactly think of something saner- after all, time travel would be ridiculous to consider.

 _I guess I'll know if I just keep visiting my own life?_

* * *

 _(Loop 3)_

"You're a wizard, Harry."

 _Okay, I guess I'm not dying, but absolutely crazy._

* * *

 _(Loop 7)_

He sat next to Lily on the short wall at the school entrance. Al had just ran out of sight because he realized he forgot something in his locker. Now, he could ask her something. She knew more about the weird side of the Internet (like _fanfiction..._ Just thinking about it made him shudder) so she was probably his best bet in knowing what was going on.

"So, uh, have you heard of something about someone reliving things over and over?"

She gave him a surprised look, but then thought on it. She lit up when she thought of something. "Do you mean those books where there's a kid that lives through the same day over and over?"

"Well, sort of..." Ed wore an uncomfortable look as he tried better to explain. "But not the same day, more like random moments in his life and ones of others. Maybe even living through something from a book or movie..."

Mentioning that last part triggered something in her. " _Oooooh!_ Yeah, I get what you mean! Just a few days ago I read a fic about this thing called Looping. I didn't understand part of the explanation, but, basically, the multiverse broke...? And so a character ends up going through stuff from their own universe and from some other fandoms. Every time they end up in another scene, they've looped." She paused to see if it was enough of an explanation for Ed.

"So... do the 'loops' or whatever end at some point?..."

Lily shook her head. "As far as I know, it doesn't end. But it becomes more bearable if someone else they know Awakens- that is, becomes aware that the looping is going on- because they can both know that they're not alone in the madness. They can even enjoy the looping by wreaking havoc together in the scenes just because they can. I don't think it does anything to the original timelines of the stories or anything... I think."

Ed nodded his head as he absorbed his information. As weird as this sounded- a multiverse actually existing and stuff- he had to admit there wasn't a better explanation.

 _Wait. So, if a_ character _is supposed to be the one going through loops... Am I a fictional person in someone's story? Am I even_ real?

 _..._

 _...Nah, no way. My life is_ totally _reality._

"So where'd you hear about this?" Lily said, interrupting his thoughts. He glanced to her, wondering if he should tell her the truth.

"Are the Loopers allowed to tell people they're looping?" he asked.

Lily blinked. "Um... no, not if they aren't Awake already. Why?"

Ed then thought again about her saying wreaking havoc didn't really do anything... So he decided to give it a shot. He slammed his hands down on the wall and swung himself off so he could stand in front of her and point dramatically in her face.

"I HATE CATS!" he declared.

Lily gasped loudly. "HOW _DARE_ YOU! THEY ARE THE MOST PRECIOUS THINGS ON _EARTH!_ "

"They're _ugly_ little things," he lied, but it still visibly made Lily's heart break. And her face redden in anger.

"Back away slowly," she managed to get out of her mouth.

" _Bugs_ are the best thing ever," he said, just to get her more riled up. He knew how she strongly disliked and feared almost all insects (to a point where it was a little ridiculous). "Spiders, centipedes, cockroaches, _horse flies_..."

Now her expression was changing into more like uneasiness than hate. Not quite what he was going for.

"And they're cuter than kittens can ever be."

"TAKE THAT _BACK!_ "

 _There we go._

He had fun running away from the raged Lily who looked ready to actually hurt him... at first. Then he realized that she could probably actually do some damage if provoked enough.

She might even go straight for kicking him in the _area_.

 _Next time, I'll not wreak havoc by making her mad,_ he thought with a gulp.

* * *

 _(Loop 15)_

"Wait... So, you two are _sisters?_ " Ed asked with a weird look on his face.

"Yup!" Lily and Rillie chirped in sync, pressing their shoulders against each other. "Twins!"

"Do you have any other siblings?" Al asked innocently. This alternate universe version of the younger brother apparently didn't see anything wrong with this picture, which made him wonder what the chain of reactions could _possibly_ have been to get them to Amestris if Lily was _already here..._

"Yeah, older brother and sister," Rillie replied. "Milo and Di."

"Di's visiting some friends in another state, though, so you guys won't see her for a few days," Lily added.

"So, Lils, where do you want to go?" Rillie said playfully. Apparently, living with Lily made her perkier.

Lily ran her fingers through an invisible beard. "Ooh, how about by the fountain where there's the street performers?"

"I like it!" Rillie immediately took off without bothering to ask the brothers if they even wanted to go. Lily stayed behind, apologizing, but still ushered the boys forward so they could eventually catch up with her sister.

* * *

 _(Loop 29)_

Matt blinked, then blinked again as he stared at Megan.

 _Since when was she our_ older _sister?_

This was probably one of the worst loops in existence to Wake Up in. (In Al's opinion, at least.)

Older Megan was even scarier.

* * *

 _(Loop 31)_

Ed swung from vine to vine like a pro, even pulling off a midair flip or two. When he dropped down onto a very thick tree branch, he thumped his fists against his chest and yelled loudly, the sound echoing throughout the jungle.

"I _get it,_ I get it, you're Tarzan. Now put some clothes on, Brother."

Ed gasped and looked below him, where there was a young gorilla that was somehow pulling a grossed-out expression and a classic Elric smug smirk at the same time.

"Al!" he cried aloud in joy, jumping off the branch so he could hug his ape sibling. "You're Awake?"

The gorilla obviously didn't understand the term. "Wait, do you mean if I'm asleep or not? I'm still sort of trying to figure that out."

"No, that you can tell we're jumping from one universe to another." Ed sat his brother down so he could explain what was going on, with more detail than Lily had given him. He'd met another Looper a dozen or so loops ago with more information.

* * *

 _(Loop 34)_

"As co-presidents of the United States, we declare that today shall now be called 'Free Day', where you can get everything, from produce to TVs to amusement park tickets, _absolutely free!_ " Ed announced with a big grin.

Al gaped at his brother. "Nonononono, we are _not_ declaring this, Brother!"

"Knock yourselves out!" Ed continued, knocking a mallet against the pedestal they were standing at as if they were court judges.

" _No!_ Are you absolutely _crazy?!_ " Al harshly pushed his older brother away from the microphones, then turned his attention back to the reporters. "Just to be clear, Free Day is _not_ a real thing. However, Free _Cat_ Day-"

"Oh, _COME ON,_ Al!"

* * *

 _(Loop 44)_

He followed the nurse to the hospital room, wondering who was supposed to be in there. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he was led to a young woman he'd never met before. She looked to be about mid-20s, and absolutely exhausted. However, she also couldn't stop smiling at a bundle of cloth in her arms. When she saw Ed come in, her smile grew into a grin, and she gently held the bundle, which he'd already inferred to be a baby, out towards him, inviting him to hold it.

He obviously looked lost, which made the woman chuckle, but he did as she asked anyway. He looked at the face of the newly-born, and a little smile tugged at his mouth, too. Even though the baby's skin was all red and weird, its face somehow still looked really cute, especially when the tiny little mouth opened into a huge yawn.

"Isn't she beautiful?" the woman sighed softly, and Ed glanced up to her to nod. Not really wanting to hold a stranger's baby for too long, he carefully transferred the small bundle back into the mother's arms. She quietly coddled her baby, growing more and more in love with it.

She glanced back up to Ed after a few minutes, who'd been standing around with an uncomfortable look, not really knowing what he was expected to do. "I hope you can stop being awkward around her soon, because you're gonna be around her a lot," she chuckled. Ed gave her another confused look. What did she mean? Was she some relative he didn't know before? Or a friend?

She gasped quietly as, apparently, the baby did something cute. She then gave Ed a look he couldn't quite decipher at first, but he quickly realized it was one filled with love for a spouse. "She has your eyes."

He blinked, then his eyes grew wide at the implication. He wore a horrified look and red face as he glanced between mother and child.

"But... I'M ONLY _16!_ "

* * *

 _(Loop 62)_

"I'm Edward John Elric, the Fullmetal Alchemist!" Matt said in a loud, confident voice.

"And I'm his younger brother, Alphonse Matt Elric!" John added, not caring that he wasn't really acting like the original Al.

Yes, they fully realized how weird this was.

But it was fun playing opposite roles and adding middle names.

* * *

 _(Loop 70)_

Ed and Al arrived to a weird-looking glacier as they were fishing from a canoe near their Southern Water Tribe. They glanced to each other, knowing what this meant. While not admitting it aloud, they were playing along with the general timeline of the TV show for the fun of it. They climbed out of the canoe and stood in front of the spherical ice, just barely managing to make out that there were living beings inside.

"...Hello?" Ed called, not remembering what happened so that the glacier cracked open. He knocked on the ice, and that seemed to be the trigger.

After the crazy light show that came out from the ice when it cracked open like an egg, Ed and Al climbed inside and found a bald boy with colorful clothing laying on the glacier, a ginormous furry beast behind him.

Al was the one that came forward to nudge the boy to see if he was okay. Said boy slowly opened his eyes and squinted at the brightness around him, then finally focused on Al.

"C-come closer," he whispered, and Al complied, moving close enough to provide shade for the 112-year-old boy.

"I need to ask you something," the boy continued quietly. Al nodded, Ed not far behind him. Both knew what Aang was supposed to say here.

 _"...Do you wanna build a snowmaaan?~"_ Aang sang suddenly with a Greed grin on his face. Both brothers backed off with befuddled faces, and that caused Aang to have a laugh attack.

"I got you _so good!_ " he choked out through his laughing. He was finishing up his laughter when he seemed to really take in his rescuers' appearances and then snorted as he began to laugh even harder. "Oh my gosh, _you guys_ are playing Sokka and Katara! That is so freaking _awesome!_ "

Recognizing Aang's behavior, Al voiced a hesitant guess at his true identity in this loop. "...Lily?"

"Heck yeah, man!" The airbender stood up and brushed him/herself off. "I always thought air would be my element if I happened to live in this world, so this is pretty cool."

"When'd you Wake Up?" Ed asked, tilting his head to the side.

"Oh, about 6 loops ago. I knew something was weird when I turned 15 again." She reached to push up her glasses, but ended up just poking the bridge of her nose, as her current character didn't actually wear glasses.

"Well, welcome to the Loopers, Lily," Al said, assuming she knew what was going on because someone else had already filled her in.

"So," she said, rubbing her hands together mischievously, "you guys wanna go explore this universe?"

"You realize, if we go through the entire show, at the end you have to save the world?" Ed deadpanned, making her drop her hands and her jaw.

"...Crap."

* * *

 _(Loop 79)_

Lily blinked as she took in her surroundings. Blades of grass as tall as trees came up from both sides. She wore clothing made out of leaves (which wasn't very comfortable) and translucent fairy wings sprouted out her back. She currently rode on the back of a white mouse. Her eyes rested on the clumps of fur she was gripping to stay on the moving creature.

"...This isn't a car," she said in a confused tone of voice, quoting something from the Internet.

* * *

 _(Loop 86)_

Darth Vader breathed noisily, creating a dramatic pause, before revealing something shocking. "Luke... _I am your father._ "

Ed rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know. Can we move this along?" he said with hand gestures sweeping the topic to the side.

"And Luke," a new voice that sounded similar to Darth's, except _female_ , interrupted, surprising Al (who was currently one of the guards nearby) and Ed. A shorter and pinker Darth Vader revealed herself, swishing her cape dramatically. "... _I_ am your _mother._ "

Surprisingly, it _wasn't_ Lily underneath the pink helmet.

* * *

 _(Loop 95)_

 **"If the Fullmetal Alchemist actually existed, then so did Amestris,"** John expressed his thoughts out loud in Russian. **"And if Amestris exists, then so does Drachma."**

 **"Let us make our Russian ancestors proud,"** Lily proclaimed, also speaking in said language.

 **"We must visit our homeland,"** Al said, dramatically looking off into the distance. **"...Drachma."**

After a few seconds of all of them maintaining serious expressions, they simultaneously couldn't hold it in anymore and released fits of laughter.

* * *

 _(Loop 100)_

John and Matt almost couldn't register their current location... They could hardly be sure of where they even were before the looping began, but they had a feeling it was here, studying in an Amestrian library.

"Are we... back to the present?" Al said, not sure what to believe. As fun as the loops were sometimes, it would be a dream come true for life to just go back to normal.

"I guess so... maybe... But I thought we'd never stop looping."

"Well, let's at least play this as if it's reality, just in case. I really would like to get back to our mission," Al said, rubbing the back of his head. Ed nodded and they went straight to work, skimming through everything that was already there so they could recall all the information they'd already found so long ago (or, at least, it felt like a long time ago.)

* * *

Lily found herself back in her bedroom. Backpack next to bed. Phone in hand. No random twins coming in, nor Eds and Als. Not even a baby elephant in sight.

It was almost like... Her life was back to normal.

 _That's not gonna last._

* * *

It actually _did_ last. That was the last loop for all three. Apparently, the multiverse was fixed again or something. The trio of ex-Loopers found it odd and oddly boring to get back into their original, normal routines, but they did, and the story could finally continue on.

* * *

Alt. N: John goes through 100 loops, Matt and Lily Awake for part of them.

* * *

 **How was it? :D What was your favorite?**

 **While I get annoyed when authors insist on you reviewing (especially if they're like "I need at least 10 reviews!") or something, because, when they talk about it too much, that actually _discourages_ me to review their story... i gotta be frank here. (Yeah, I'm taking your name temporarily, Frank! Deal with it!) While I know this isn't a very popular story, there _are_ people reading it, but I barely get any reviews. I luv you, author, but it's also nice to know someone besides my close friends are engaged in my work, you know? So could one of those people that hasn't ever reviewed or just not reviewed in a long time say something? At least an "I like your story" or "I'm alive! I exist!" or "Hi"? Even just a random emoticon would be awesome. :3**

 **Thank you! For real!**

 **K bai!**


	14. Chapter 14

***near to tears* I... I didn't update last week! ;-;**

 **I actually _had_ finished the chapter and an alternate within the week, but it was really late on Saturday. Even if I had finished earlier, I wouldn't have had the time to post it since we ended up busier than I expected.**

 **But, since I had actually thought of _3_ alternates... I figured I might as well write the rest of them, too, and just make sure this chapter is well-edited by the end of _this_ week. :3 Of course, I've been focused on this and haven't really thought of what to write for the next chapter... Well, ain't that just fan-diddly-tastic? ;-;**

 **On with the story!**

* * *

Rillie took a breath in, then let it out. Then she opened the door and entered.

She hesitantly stepped into the unfamiliar building, searching for the spot they'd most likely be. _Where's the tables?... Or maybe they're on the second floor?_ She located a group of computers, and continued skimming about with her eyes at the sitting areas around there. _Where can they- Oh!_

She sighed in relief and speed-walked over to a small table piled high with books and loose leaf paper.

"Hey, guys!" she chirped to the two leaning over their work.

"Hey, Rillie," they automatically replied. Then they blinked and did a double-take, causing her to slightly smirk.

"Rillie!" the younger repeated, now with a more surprised and pleased tone.

"What're you doing here?" Ed, the older, raised his brow and looked around, making sure they were indeed in the place he thought they were. Yep, they were in the West City Library still- quite aways from the girl's home.

"I came along with Milo, who was coming to West City anyway," she replied simply as she dragged a chair over from another table to sit by them. "Figured I might as well look for you guys."

"Guess you found us," Al said, looking like he was conflicted between taking a break to chat with Rillie or telling her to go away so they could keep working.

"Yeah. I'm so glad you guys are so predictable."

"Predictable?!" Ed started to stand up to defend himself, Rillie laughing upon his reaction, but Al quickly caught the motion and pushed him back down into his seat. He glanced around to signal to his brother that they were kinda in the middle of the _library-_ not the most ideal place to be loud.

"At least, predictable in where you hang out," she amended as her giggles died. "I was pretty sure you'd be in a library as soon as possible."

Ed stared at her for a moment, then just huffed in defeat, understanding her point.

"Sooo..." Rillie started, signaling a change in topic. "How's your studying going?"

"Well, due to recent events, we know now that not only do we have to figure alkahemy out, but have it work on someone with a different chemical makeup," Ed explained in a low voice.

She turned that statement over in her mind until she got what he was implying. She did a little, quiet, excited gasp. "So you are really that different from Amestrians?"

Both just simply nodded in response.

"Do you know the exact measurements your bodies have, then?"

That was when both frowned and shook their head no instead.

"At this point, I can't really remember anymore since we've been looking at Amestrian books lately," Al admitted, face dropping. "So now we're not sure if we should try to figure out what they should be for us before attempting medicinal alkahemy or make sure we've got alkahemy down _then_ figure out what should be changed so it works on us."

Rillie looked at the two brothers as she considered the dilemma herself. At a shift her arms made she felt a small, but stinging, pain on her left forearm. She winced, but then a realization came to her, and a lightbulb nearby brightened as she thought up an idea. With an ecstatic grin, she held out her arm to them.

"If you guys go with the second choice, you can start by practicing on me!"

"Wuh?" both brothers blurted before they glanced to her appendage and noticed a red streak running diagonally across the inside of her forearm, about 6 inches long.

"What happened?!" Al cried worriedly as her inspected her cut.

"Don't worry, it's not as bad as it looks," she said to calm him down, but then her tone suddenly changed to bitterness as she explained the cause of the small injury. "It happened at _Milo's friend's party._ "

The brothers glanced to each other and silently decided it might not be the best idea to ask her to elaborate.

"So you want us to try to heal it?" Ed asked, glancing between her arm and her eyes unsurely.

"Sure! I trust you guys won't _mess me up_ instead. And starting small is probably better."

Even though they actually hadn't done any transmutations before their big world-crossing one and it had worked anyway... they agreed it'd be better to go slow. Or at least as slow as their impatience for the matter would allow.

"O-okay, if you're sure..." Al quickly flipped through some loose papers until he found the one he wanted. "This has a pair of circles that should do the trick."

"I shall be your guinea pig," Rillie announced officially, moving her arm to cover the transmutation circles drawn on the paper.

Ed had raised his hands to clap or something, but then he paused in midair. "Wait, are we allowed to transmute in the library?"

The three blinked, then looked around for any indication that stated otherwise. Ed eventually shrugged and figured it probably didn't matter as long as they didn't mess with the property.

He and his brother discussed the circles for a few minutes before they decided to try it. They placed their hands on the first circle, touching the edges that were not covered by Rillie's arm, and nodded to each other before activating it.

* * *

" _WHAT are you kids doing?!_ "

"RUN!" John shouted as he fumbled out his chair and sprinted away from the librarian.

* * *

Ed returned to the hotel room after having picked up some food-to-go from a Xingese restaurant down the street. He opened the door, and blinked as he found Al frozen in the middle of the room, looking like he was holding his breath- clearly guilty and wishing they weren't in the same place together at the moment.

"Heeeeey, Brother!..."

"What'd you do, Al?" he said with a deep sigh, closing the door behind him.

Al let out his breath and paused, thinking about what to say. "...You know how there's no animal shelters around here, ri-"

 _Mrowr._

Al's mouth quickly snapped closed.

A tiny fluffball jumped onto the bed, coming into view of both Elrics. It found a spot it liked on the mattress and sat down before meowing at them cutely.

 _Mew!_

" _Wow._ " Ed freed one of his hands from the bag containing food so he could facepalm. He slid his hand down his face slowly, groaning in disbelief and annoyance.

 _Mew!_

"Once I can find a good owner for them, they'll be out of our hair, I promise!" Al said quickly. A bigger cat with darker fur chose that moment to appear, rubbing up against the younger human's leg with a loud purr.

 _Mrowr._

"How many did you sneak in?" Ed asked, sighing in defeat.

"Just these two."

 _Mew!_

 _Mrowr._

"All I have to say," the elder finally stated after a moment, "is that... We really _are_ predictable."

* * *

 **Hey- if one Al can do it, so can another!**

 **Now for the alternates! The first two relate to memory, and the last one... My mind kept bringing up the idea for a while now, and I finally succumbed and wrote it. It's more of a silly omake than anything, but IT STILL COUNTS AS AN ALT!**

 **So... uh... I'm just gonna talk about my personal life for a bit, if that's cool with you...**

 **I joined my first club, like, _ever,_ earlier this week- the Drama Club. I'm planning on maybe joining one or two more. This is mainly because I basically didn't participate in any extracurricular activities as a freshman or sophomore, so I should really up my game, at _least_ for my upperclassman years. ^^' **

**I finally learned exactly _what_ NaNoWriMo is this morning! :D Surprisingly, from the lady carpooling me and a few other kids to school. XD Now, my goal is to participate!... next year or year after that. First, I really need to get better at planning, and I need an idea to plan before I even attempt.**

 **K, bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) O:

 _He dropped onto solid ground, but he didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience._

"Brother!"

...

"Brother!"

...

" _ED!_ "

John woke up at Matt's yelling, wondering how long he'd been yelling and why he hadn't heard said yelling earlier.

"What's wrong?..." he muttered blearily. That was when he focused more on the face of his sibling and realized they were in a dire situation.

Panic was written all over him.

John lifted the top half of his body with his arms and looked around him, expecting to see blood or something, but there was just cement and dust. He looked to see they were in an alleyway, but not deep.

 _When'd we get here?..._

"Brother, do you remember anything?" Al asked hurriedly, focusing Ed's attention back on him.

"...Like my name? Yeah," he replied with an odd look. Where was this going?

"No, you idiot!" Al didn't give his brother the time to retaliate with another insult. "Like the last thing to happen to us!"

He was about to react sarcastically, but then he paused to think about it and realized he really _couldn't_ remember.

"I think we were gonna start the transmutation... And that's it. That's all I got."

The younger brother nodded furiously. "I can't remember visiting the Gate, either!"

"I don't even remember if the Gate was the one with Truth or the other one!"

"Will our memory come back with a trigger?"

"Or is this the price we paid to come here in one piece?"

They both went into silence, pondering what was going on.

"At least we don't _need_ to remember the Gate, right?" Ed eventually suggested. "We can still find what we want and get back home without any knowledge we could've attained there."

"Yeah. We're in a new place- most likely, Amestris- so that means the transmutation worked. If we got here, we can just go back the same way," Al said, starting to relax.

"Yeah." Ed wore a thoughtful look, but then panic suddenly started to grow into his expression like on his brother's just a minute ago. "I don't remember how we did the circle!"

"What?" Al searched his own brain and came up with nothing- not even that they had used chalk to draw it. " _What?!_ "

"How do we get home now?!"

"Uuuh... Oh! Maybe there's a sketch of it in our backpacks! We would've done that just in case," Al said, quickly reaching into his backpack and digging through all its contents.

Both brothers dug through all the pockets, every nook and cranny, but they couldn't find any transmutation circles.

"If we don't remember or figure out what we did..." Both brothers looked to each other, knowing exactly how that sentence would end.

 _We can't return._

* * *

Alt. O: Whoever or whatever it was they met in the Gate, they demanded a toll- and memory was taken. Ed and Al may have to start over from the very beginning to make the Gate-crossing circle again... If they cannot succeed and/or find a loophole, they will be stuck in the alternate universe. (Quite an ironic fate, considering what happened to their ancestors.)

* * *

Alternate (Route) P:

 _"Good, you're awake."_

Matt blinked harder, trying to wake up more, and frowned upon seeing his brother's concerned face. He started sitting up, but winced at the nasty headache he just barely realized he had. His body also ached, but it only took a moment to glance at the ground he was laying on to understand why.

 _Wait, why was I on the GROUND?_ His eyes widened and, trying to ignore how his headache continued to flare, he searched hopelessly around their current location, not finding anything he recognized.

"Where are we?" he asked his brother, trying to not sound too freaked out.

"I have no idea," John replied, trying to not show his worry through his voice either, but doing a better job of it. They gently helped each other stand up, wincing at how badly their heads pounded. They brushed off and slung on the backpacks they apparently had brought with them to... wherever this place was.

"So what do we do?" the younger eventually asked as they observed the crowd of people flooding the sidewalk in front of them, wondering how big of a city they were in. The noise of walking and chattering really wasn't helping their headaches.

"I dunno," was the response given as Ed massaged his temples, trying to hear his own thoughts. He blinked as he finally got a solution. "Duh! Just get our phones out and call Mom and Dad to pick us up."

Al sighed in relief. "Of course."

Both dug through their pants pockets, then, realizing there weren't any electronic devices there for some reason, they turned to the backpacks.

"Why is there extra clothes and stuff in here? It's like we were planning on staying somewhere," Ed commented, clearly confused. He was at least happy to find that his wallet was there, though with _more_ money than usual.

"I can't find my phone," Al said with a frustrated sigh as he zipped up all the pockets again. "What about you?"

"Me neither," the other replied, worried about where his phone could possibly be. Few times could it not be found on or near him.

"Okay," Al said slowly, trying to get calm, "then we just find a phone. No biggie."

It was when they entered the nearest store...

...and asked about possibly using a phone...

...and got a reply in a completely foreign language...

...that they realized that getting home was not going to be so simple.

* * *

Alt. P: Instead of gaining knowledge, all their memory related to _Fullmetal Alchemist_ is taken in the Gate. John and Matt have no idea where they are or what how they got there... Will they be stuck in the parallel universe forever?

* * *

Alternate (Truth) Q:

" _AL!_ "

Matt yelped at his brother's not-so-subtle way to get him to wake up.

"What, Brother?!-" Just starting to get off the ground immediately alerted him to whatever was wrong.

"The toll..." Ed started with wide eyes. "Was..."

Al nodded, suspecting both got the same fate. He shifted uncomfortably, then quietly finished the statement. "Our _underwear_."

* * *

Alt. Q: Hiromu Arakawa's omakes are no laughing matter; they really are possible, at times. In this case, whichever sort of Gate the brothers encountered took their underwear instead of the toll usually expected. What if they can't get a new pair soon?! They're wearing _jeans!_ This is truly horrible! The Gate is cruel!


	15. Chapter 15

**I have risen from the ashes... *ka-CAW!***

 **Yes, this was unexpected for you and even for me. Since it'd be a really long explanation, I won't tell you what's happened in my life to cause the delay. A lot's happened. *shrug* But I _will_ tell you that, more than anything, I was stuck on this chapter for _3 freaking months_ (I posted the last one on Sept. 25, I believe, and today's Dec. 29!) because this was a hard chapter to write. I don't know much about comas and hospitals and stuff like that, plus I needed to think about how to use other characters I wanted to bring in without (hopefully) making anyone OOC. And so, the 2nd half of this chap was really throwing me for a loop. I had no idea how I was supposed to write it.**

 **I'm lucky that a few weeks ago I got to talk to BadonKaDank, who gave me a little more information and advice about it, so I felt a lot more confident and got the chapter finished! :D *cheering and confetti* And, surprisingly, I think this might be one of the longest chapters so far... Though it's probably not as realistic as it would be from a writer who- oh, I don't know- actually knew something about anything and thought twice about writing something that would cause future chapters to be difficult to write. ^^' It's still something!**

 **Oh, and... I tried my best to keep Lily in-character, but one thing I feel like I have to point out is that I really, sincerely doubt I'd go into the hospital all by myself. Even if my mom dropped me off there, I'm quite positive she'd want to come in with me... and, well, I'm pretty sure I'd want her there, too. Also, I'd probably be even more nervous and anxious and awkward than I seem here, _and_ say "Um" even more. XD**

 **On with the story! (Hope you remember everything that's already happened, or confusion's defs going to occur...)**

* * *

"What the _what?_ "

"...Um..." Dixie replied, a little unsure by how to respond.

Lily was still gaping at her like a fish. "...Oh my gosh."

"Her mom posted it on Facebook, so yeah, I'm guessing it's true."

Lily continued to slowly rattle off almost-swears as she tried to comprehend. She knew this would probably happen, and it felt like it was so long ago that Ryan had ended up in the hospital... but now this felt too _soon._

"So..." she said when she was done looking really mindblown, "...what now?"

Dixie raised a brow at her. "Well, I told you so you could... you know... maybe go _see_ her?"

"Oh! Right, right..."

Dixie blinked at Lily. Not that she knew the other girl very well or anything, but she expected her to seem a little more happy to hear this, not so... lost? Like she was dreading something? She knew that was how Ed was feeling-

"I almost forgot!" she blurted before Lily could wander off in her strange state. "I'd talked a bit with Ryan's mom on Facebook, and she mentioned that Ryan was wondering where Ed and Al went. I don't know where they've gone since they haven't been to school lately... Do you know? Did they go on a trip or something?"

Lily's face showed horror for a moment before she visibly attempted to school her features back to a less... insane-looking expression. "Y-yeah, um, I kinda do..."

"Wow, really?" Dixie wondered why she hadn't thought of asking the dark brunette earlier. "Well, now that Ryan's awake, you can tell her, since she's probably really worried."

Was it bad that Lily kinda sorta _really_ didn't want to go to the hospital because of that very reason?

* * *

Ryan Parlor sighed as he leaned against the receptionist's desk, tired of balancing on his crutches as he waited. He and his parents had to return to the hospital after he complained too much about his cast. It wasn't the fact that it was itchy, but that it seemed to not fit properly, too. He knew it wasn't supposed to be _this_ uncomfortable, since he'd had a cast on before.

It was the price to pay for being an amateur skier.

After the issue was resolved, all they needed was for the nurse to return and give his parents that thing she wouldn't let them leave without- he didn't even know what it was, but he doubted it should've taken so long to retrieve.

He was _this close_ to wailing in agony due to his boredom when a teenage girl (all by herself, he noted) walked through the doors, straight up to the desk.

"Excuse me," she said to the nurse meekly, trying to talk loud and sort of failing, "can I visit room B117?"

The woman looked up and raised her brow. "Who are you visiting in that room, and what is your relationship?"

"Her name is Ryan, and I'm her friend," she replied, wearing a sad and anxious look.

Ryan blinked, recognizing both the room number and name and, boredom now replaced by curiosity, interrupted the exchange. "You mean that girl in the coma?"

Lily wore a slightly startled look. "Uh, yeah...?"

"I was in the same room as her," he provided as explanation for how he knew this, so she "Ahh"ed and nodded. After a second, he continued, "How is she now?"

"Apparently, she woke up yesterday," she said awkwardly, clearly nervous about visiting her friend.

"Oh," he said, not really knowing what else to say. He'd planned to say something more polite, but ended up blurting out "She wasn't looking so good." He blinked, then mentally berated himself. _You idiot, she's already_ clearly _sad!_

Of course, Lily's mood visibly dropped further. "Yeah, I know." She knew she should be more excited about Ryan finally being awake, but knowing she'd probably have to answer questions she'd rather not was giving her a grave countenance.

"But she'll be okay, right?" Ryan asked- actually, it was more of a statement than a question. He seemed _pretty_ sure things would be okay. Lily remembered she usually thought like that, but that mentality was being tested with the brothers gone. She wished she could see them just to know that they were at least _alive,_ even if just barely.

"Yeah. I know these guys that are working on helping her recover nicely," she said with a little smile, the intention behind the gesture muddled by the different emotions running through it at the same time.

"Are these guys really smart?" Ryan tilted his head to the side, contemplating on the possibilities of the vague use of "guys".

Lily was internally amused, impressed, and a bit jealous of _yet another_ person younger than her that had more guts to talk to strangers. "Yeah. Super smart, and they're only my age."

Ryan had the feeling he probably wasn't gonna get much more detail beyond that unless he was willing to become much closer friends with this girl. He was curious, but not enough to start a friendship just to be entrusted with the information. He signaled the ending of the topic by saying, "I hope whatever they're doing works."

"Yeah, me too."

They both just kinda stood there for a moment.

"Um," Lily started awkwardly, now turning toward the nurse she'd been talking to again. "So... is it okay to see her?"

"Yes, it is. I'll call another nurse to escort you," the lady said, pressing a button on the phone holder.

"Would it be okay if I go visit her too?" Ryan suddenly said on a whim, surprising Lily.

"I-I don't know-" she began in response, but he quickly went off- using his crutches like a pro- to ask permission from his parents, who were chatting quietly by a wall.

He returned with a little hopeful expression. "They said it's okay, so... Can I?"

Lily blinked at the kid, not really that practiced in this sort of situation. "I don't know, ask the nurse."

They turned their direction to the woman mentioned, who gave Ryan a bit of a skeptical look. "If the patient doesn't at least _know_ you, then-"

The nurse to accompany them chose that moment to arrive, and she looked pleasantly surprised to recognize one of the faces. "Ryan! How are you today?"

"Good," he gave as automatic response, then pointed toward Lily (but not rudely). "Am I allowed to go with her to visit the other Ryan?"

"Oh yeah, sure!" She gave her coworker some reassuring words about Ryan Parlor being a good kid and agreed to lead them to the hospital room.

* * *

Isabella, the nurse, advised to not be too loud and to be aware that Ryan's reaction time was going to be slow. Both nodded, expecting as much, and went through their heads what they'd even _say_ to the patient. Lily had already seen her a few times, but she was _asleep,_ and now she was _awake-_ or, at least, in a different sort of asleep. Now she was gonna have to be more careful about what she said and did, and things would most likely be... awkward.

Well, now seeing Ryan's expression, she felt a bit more assured that this wouldn't quite be the case. After all, she was having a hard time even staying _awake_ , much less anything that requires more energy than that. Serious talk would have to wait until she was more... lucid.

"You have some guests," Isabella chirped to the frizzy-headed girl, giving a hand gesture to look toward the two youngsters, who each gave a shy wave. Ryan slowly turned her head on the pillow to look at them and blinked sluggishly.

The Ryan in crutches slightly elbowed Lily, reminding her to say something. "Oh! Um, hi! Remember me?" she managed to say. Female Ryan blinked like a sloth again before the corners of her mouth began to move up.

"Yeah..." Ryan mumbled out with her small smile, which then dropped a little, as it apparently took a lot of effort to do.

"Well, um, it's great to see you," she added, even as Ryan visibly looked like she was about to konk out again. In spite of the situation, Lily couldn't help but be a bit amused.

All thought the girl was going to nap again, but she suddenly began blinking harder, trying to keep herself awake. She attempted to focus harder on Lily as she slurred out a question of her own. "Where's Ed 'n' Al?"

Lily stared with slightly widened eyes for a second, unsure of what to say, despite having already rehearsed it in her head before. "Uh..." She settled for blurting out the quick version. "Gone... for now."

"You should let yourself rest," Isabella said sweetly as she neared the girl on the bed, seeing her trying so hard to stay awake. Ryan was determined, however, and used all her efforts to not sleep yet.

"Are 'ey 'kay?" she said, which was difficult to understand for the other occupants of the room, but Lily could fill in the gaps- of course she'd ask if the brothers were okay.

"Yeah... I think so." Lily smiled softly at Ryan, who was finally losing the fight at keeping her eyes open, steadily drifting back to dreamland. "Good night."

Ryan lifted one corner of her mouth into a half-smile and let out an airy noise that sounded like a weak version of a short laugh. "Night." She let her eyes close and went into deep sleep once again.

"Who'd she ask about?" Ryan Parlor said a few seconds later, once he thought it safe to speak up. He'd never even gotten a chance to say something, though talking to her would've been better if she'd been ready for a longer conversation.

"Ed and Al. They're friends of ours," Lily explained, not taking her eyes off the slumbering form.

"Did you bring anything to leave at her bedside?" Isabella asked, causing the younger girl to blink in surprise toward the nurse.

"Uh, no, I forgot to write something at home..."

"I can get a pencil and paper for you, if you'd like."

"Oh! Um, sure... but something like a sticky-note is big enough, I think. Thank you," she said, hoping it wouldn't be any trouble for the nurse. She felt bad about leaving without at least giving Ryan a note now that the idea was presented to her, though. Isabella nodded and left the room temporarily.

Ryan Parlor had taken that time to go look at the things the girl with the same name had already received. Lily mentally shrugged and joined him in doing so. She was surprised to see she actually vaguely recognized a few of the names- four or five were students and two were faculty.

"Aunt Abby?" Ryan whispered just as both their eyes landed on the one signed _'Miss Abigail Connor'_ with handwriting both could recognize.

"Huh, Miss Connor's my science teacher. She's your aunt?" Lily looked over to the boy with a surprised look.

"Yeah," he replied with a nod. "I knew she was a teacher, but actually meeting one of her students is weird," he said with an awkward laugh while looking up at her. He decided he'd tell his aunt all about this day sometime and see her reaction. But it'd be easier if-

"Oh! I never even said my name. I'm Lily," she introduced.

"Ryan, in case you didn't remember," he responded with his own name, and then both ended up participating in an awkward handshake.

"So I guess Ryan has Miss Connor for Biology, too," she said, returning back to the previous subject.

Ryan hummed in agreement, then both just looked around more at the notes and gifts silently. The nurse returned a few minutes later with some paper and two pens, in case he wanted to write something, too.

He decided he might as well, and he whipped up a little note; when finished with it, he folded it in half and set it among the other presents, having to tuck it between things so it wouldn't fall off the table. He looked over to see Lily barely got a sentence down for her own note so far. She was one of those people who liked to think very carefully when writing to someone else.

"How much will you write?"

"Eh, just a sentence more..." Lily said nervously, suddenly feeling rushed. "And I was also thinking of folding up a little origami crane for her."

 _Oh, that's an interesting idea._ "I'll make one, too." Lily seemed pleased by his response. Both worked quietly until a few minutes later, when both were having trouble remembering one of the steps to making a crane and had to talk with each other to figure it out.

Lily squeezed her note in next to Ryan's and gently placed their cranes on top. Both said a quiet goodbye to the sleeping girl and let Isabella lead them back to the lobby.

* * *

Ryan was having a hard time lately with remembering things... but among all the things friends and family said to her while she was asleep, one that particularly stuck in her memory was once when Ed made a promise to her. Something about him doing whatever it took to help her, even going to dangerous lengths.

She was pretty sure he'd said somewhere in there something about him and Al caring about her a lot, which was odd to her considering he wasn't really one for saying that kind of thing out loud. He must've been really serious.

No, he was _definitely_ serious. When he dedicated himself to something, he didn't like backing down. She'd witnessed that dedication time and time again, whether for school, extracurricular activities, or... friends.

She really wished they could make up. _Whatever it is they're doing, they better come back so we can be friends again._ But "dangerous" to them could mean things a lot worse than _she'd_ consider risky. She really had no idea since, as usual, Ed didn't explain.

" _If it doesn't work... know that we_ tried _._ We really tried _."_

The Elrics hadn't come to visit her again after that.

All she could do was hope they really were okay.

* * *

 **I hope I didn't make anything in the chapter confusing. For example, I was worried the reader'd be lost at the beginning, but I didn't want to put Dixie saying out loud what happened, and instead make the reader infer from Lily's reaction and stuff, and then have the inference confirmed later. I may have failed at that.**

 **I actually can see the finish line for this story! Yup, during that long haitus-thing, I figured out when I want this story to stop. I hope it's not too sudden or too fast for you guys like it was in "Family History".**

 **For once, I actually know what I plan to do for this side of the Gate next, but am still figuring out what Ed, Al, and Rillie are doing. Aw, buttcakes. I feel more confident again I'll actually finish VH, though!- I just hope it doesn't take way too long like this chapter did. *sweatdrop* But hey! You guys got another chapter before the end of the year! Call it a late Christmas present or early New Year's present or both, I don't care. XD**

 **At least most of the alternates start right around when Ed and Al arrive to Amestris, so the second alternate here is the start of me really trying to find other spots in this story where things could've deviated. I'm still totally open for suggestion for alts, if you think of any! :D It'd be awesome to get through the whole alphabet. XD Oh, and the first I guess is inspired by the fics I've read where Aerugo invades Amestris and makes alchemists slaves or something like that... They're surprisingly addicting. I somehow want there to be more like those even though Ed goes cray-cray in them. This alt. isn't actually enslaving anyone, though, it's just something similar but less dark, so don't worry if I just made you worry about continuing to read! ^^'**

 **Happy Winter Break! 2016 is almost here! :O**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) R:

 _He dropped onto solid ground, but he didn't realize it. He passed out from the exhausting, agonizing experience._

He felt himself get lifted off the ground by his shirt collar before he even got the chance to open his eyes.

"Eh?" he muttered involuntarily as he blinked away sleep. _Ow, what a horrible headache._

"A-Al!" he heard from his left. He began turning his head in that direction just as whoever had picked him up let go, causing him to hurriedly gather his footing before he crumpled all the way to the ground again. He looked over to see his brother wearing a desperate look as a tall man in a dark uniform put handcuffs around his wrists.

"Brother!" He began stepping forward to save Ed from the unjust arrest when he was yanked back by the collar (ow, _again?_ ) and his own hands were roughly pulled behind his back. Before he knew it, cold metal was placed around his wrists and clicked in place. "Wha-what's going on?!"

"Turns out alchemy's illegal," Ed said quickly and quietly, probably relaying what the officers had explained to him before.

" _Illegal?!_ " His jaw dropped, and he suddenly upped his struggling.

"Wait, Al! Resisting will make it worse!"

"But how the heck were we supposed to know it was _illegal?!_ " he snapped. "This is unfair!"

"Life's unfair," one of the policemen growled. "And we can't just let you go scot-free, whether you actually knew the Amestrian law or not- and I doubt you didn't."

"But what if we-" Al stopped when he realized it was a ridiculous offer to promise to not do it again, especially since they wouldn't actually fulfill that promise; the point to coming here was to learn more alchemy, after all.

"Just come with me," the other grunted as he gently pushed Ed to move forward, holding one of their backpacks in his hand, and the first to speak did the same with Al.

He could see his brother just itching to fight them off, but holding himself back, and he sort of wondered _why_. Of course he knew his Ed was more careful when it came to authority, but they literally didn't mean to break the law, and the cops were being more forceful than he thought they were supposed to be.

It was once they were put into the back of the police car that he thought about how idiotic it'd be to make a scene while in a foreign country, especially since they didn't know what other accidental crimes they could possibly commit in the process. But no matter what happened to them at the police station, things were gonna be bad... They had no papers whatsoever, plus had absolutely no family and no friends to help them out... It'd be pretty impossible to escape...

 _What are we gonna do?_

* * *

Alt. R: Things can change a lot in a century- and in Amestris's case, the alchemy that was once one of its greatest advancements became one of its worst crimes. The light from their transmutation was too large to not be noticed, and so the two Elrics are welcomed to the new world with handcuffs. With technology making it so difficult to _not_ be watched, will they be able to transmute again, at least to get back home?

* * *

Alternate (Route) S:

" _The closest place to exchange currency is at_ _the train station!" the doctor told them before they could get too far away. They both turned to him and gave him nods of appreciation._

On their way out the clinic, they were stopped by the secretary's voice. "Did you pay the fee to the doctor?" she asked, since some people paid him directly and others at her desk.

"Oh, he said we don't have to pay this time," the younger replied meekly, scratching the back of his head.

The secretary seemed quite surprised, but probably supposed the doctor to have a reason. "Let me write that you two don't owe anything, then," she told them, and both nodded. She went to retrieve their paperwork and quickly did as she said she would. She was about to let them off, but something curious made her pause.

"Wait a minute... Your last name is _Elric?_ " She glanced between the name and boys now standing stiff in front of her. "Are you related to _Edward_ Elric, by any chance?"

John and Matt had discussed whether to use their real last name or not while filling out the application, but in the end decided that they were most likely not going to need to use their last name again, so it'd probably not come back to bite them in the butt. They quickly realized that they were wrong. People remembered the past.

 _Oh no._

"Hm? Edward Elric?" the nurse who had helped them before and now stood next to her coworker behind the desk questioned, now listening to the unfolding conversation.

"Yeah, the Fullmetal Alchemist."

"Oh my gosh, you guys are related to the Fullmetal Alchemist?!" the second blurted, leaning on the counter toward them excitedly. The brothers were now quickly realizing _this_ was her real personality, not what she'd seemed like before.

"U-um..." The brothers looked to each other nervously, unsure whether to answer truthfully.

"You are from another country, right? That's what you wrote down," the first continued, studying more their paperwork. "That would explain better why he up and disappeared with his brother. That was one of the craziest conspiracies for the longest time!"

"It still is!" the nurse corrected. "My friend _loves_ reading conspiracy theories, and the Fullmetal Alchemist is still a hot topic."

"What country are you from? And do you know why the Elrics left in the first place?"

"You haven't even given them the chance to say they actually are! You don't know, maybe their last name came from somewhere else," she pointed out, even though she didn't sound like she believed in her own argument.

"That seems highly unlikely unless someone legally changed their last name. As far as I know, Edward and- what was his brother's name, Alfred?- were the last of the Elric line."

"How much is known of the Fullmetal Alchemist in Amestris?" Ed asked, causing both women and Al to blink in surprise at his interruption. He suddenly realized they may take that as him confirming their theory and amended his question. "You know, because he isn't exactly part of the school history textbooks where we're from."

"Most of it's speculation, honestly, so they wouldn't have much to teach in school even if he had done more to deserve a spot in the textbooks beyond being the youngest State Alchemist ever. Everyone wants to know more, though." The secretary leaned her chin into the palm of her hand with a sigh. "People would _flip_ if more information was found."

"Would _you_ happen to have that information?" the second girl asked with a mischievous smirk, a glint in her eyes indicating she'd _love_ to be the person known to discover more about Edward Elric.

"Brother?..." Al looked to Ed, wondering what to do. He didn't like to lie, but it'd probably be bad if the truth came out.

Ed didn't mind lying as much, though. He sighed, then turned to the young women and gave a smooth answer. "As much as I wish I could help, we don't have anything of interest. We're not related to him, sorry."

They both seemed disappointed. The second pouted moodily, but the first recovered quickly and turned back to a professional. "Excuse us for the interrogation, sirs; we hope it does not deter you from coming to our clinic again. Thank you for choosing our location."

"Don't worry about it," the elder Elric said, brushing off what happened, and the younger quietly thanked them back before they exited.

"I'm going to become famous!" the second worker whispered once they were gone, then squealed in excitement to herself. The secretary rolled her eyes... even though she planned to be in on the action, too.

They called up the local news station as soon as they were out of work, informing them that they may have just found the Elric family after a hundred years.

* * *

Alt. S: The two young women didn't care that the elder said they were not related to Edward Elric- they saw something in their body language that told otherwise. So they make themselves and the newest generation of Elrics brothers famous in Amestris and many other parts of the parallel world. Will life be easier or harder for them as they search for the solution to helping Ryan and get back home ASAP?


	16. Chapter 16

**When I thought I wouldn't let myself go even longer without updating, I was wrong. Now it's about 4 months since the last chapter. ;-;**

 **In my defense, the forces at play for the lateness of the previous chapter were still around, PLUS that of writing a NEW story with my friend Esmi. That one's quite different from anything I've ever done before and requires a lot more teamwork than I'm used to, but hopefully it's interesting and entertaining. Trust me, it'll change and pick up from what's there on the first chapter.**

 **Also, this next part proved difficult to write. Inspiration was somewhat slow, but eventually I finally figured out what would happen next. And then it turned out that what was to happen next took up _2 chapters' worth_ rather than just one. So I actually just have to do the alternates for the next chapter and it's ready! That also means my previous plan for chapter count is obliterated, with having, once again, two chapters for the other side of the Gate... *deep sigh***

 **Enough bumbling about! On with the story! :D**

* * *

Rillie grinned and looked behind her to see the boys apparently struggling to keep up with her due to all the people on the sidewalk. She twirled once in her very-twirlable pink and blue dress and continued on her way, gray twin braids trailing behind her.

"Why can't she slow down?" Matt groaned to his brother, who agreed wholeheartedly. It wasn't that they were out of shape, they just didn't do much _running_ for exercise- plus, she was making it quite difficult to catch up with all the turns and disappearing behind people.

"Where'd she wanna go anyways?" John grunted before slipping between two strangers walking in the opposite direction.

"She said she wanted to show us more Amestrian stuff," the younger wheezed out once they could slow down a bit to take a corner she'd flounced on.

They were relieved to see that she'd finally stopped and stood proudly in front of a storefront on the block. They jogged for the final stretch and took in gulps of sweet air when they reached her.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?" she said 'innocently' with an amused smirk.

" _Of course not,_ " Ed growled, using some venom against Rillie for the first time, but she just laughed in response.

"Anyway, wanna go in?" she suggested, an uncontrolled grin slapped on her face that made them worry.

Al glanced over to the name of the store she chose and blinked. "Wait a minute, this is..."

The elder Elric followed his lead and gaped. "A freaking _gift shop?!_ "

"Of course! You can't get any more Amestrian than tacky tourist trinkets."

The blond wanted to argue that there had to be something better, but then he remembered Milo and the decorations for the hotel and restaurants they'd been in... Wow, she could actually be right.

"These things can get a bit expensive, so I promise I'll pay half of whatever you choose." Without further delay, she opened the entrance and strode in, chimes on the door clinking to announce their arrival. The brothers felt weird about entering, not sure what to expect, but they went in after her anyway.

They were greeted by what pretty much looked like a large hotel gift shop, but with "West City" and "Amestris" written in the country's colors everywhere.

"Is this where Milo's entire wardrobe comes from?" Ed gagged as he saw some very tacky clothes hung on the wall.

Rillie answered as she moved toward a shelf with snowglobes, "Pretty much. He buys a shirt every time he goes to another city."

"I'm now gonna go on a limb and say that you're trying to turn us into him before we leave."

"Well, I _was_ , until you went and figured it out. My plans are ruined," she teased. "Ooh, guys, check this out!" She picked up a snowglobe that had a sculpted 3D version of the flag's dragon standing in the center, with different colors of sparkly confetti swirling about.

"Do you want it?" Al asked her as he studied the other kinds of globes.

"This trip is for you guys to have something! Or maybe you'd want to give a souvenir to a friend?"

"Mm, maybe," Ed said unsurely, sounding like he'd rather not.

"Brother, look!" Al said with a chuckle, stepping over to another display. "It's chalk and pure elements _'For the traveling alchemist'_. Would that be us?"

The display had what he mentioned, plus writing utensils of different kinds and other sorts of materials an alchemist may need on hand, all engraved with "West City" somewhere. There was also cheap jewelry and keychains that had a simple transmutation circle or room to draw your own.

"What would these do?" Ed mused as he inspected a simple bracelet with a small alchemic circle painted on. "I think this one has something to do with water..."

"Oh, this is kinda cool!" Al held up what looked similar to a pocketknife, but the knife part wasn't shaped as one at all- it was just a small block of metal. A tiny transmutation circle on the handle would allow one to transmute the metal into a knife or whatever else was desired or needed. "Some of them have names on them, too!"

"Do you actually need a pocketknife?" Rillie asked with a brow raised.

"This would be useful to have, though I wish it looked less like an actual pocketknife so I wouldn't get in trouble for having it," Ed frowned.

"Here ya go," his brother said, tossing a plain metal block wrapped in plastic to him. "Says it's easy to carve circles in, if you want to."

"Aw, but that's so _boring!_ " Rillie whined at the block. "And you guys don't even need to use circles most of the time!"

"Then what do you suggest getting that wouldn't be embarrassing to own?" Ed crossed his arms at her.

She hummed in concentration as her eyes scanned the store. She then proceeded to pick up a small tin box as her first suggestion. "If you want something useful, you could put alchemy supplies in this. This keychain," she continued, holding up a small toy State Alchemist pocket watch on a keyring, "would be fine for yourself or someone else, and if you wanted to give a friend one of these, I know girls usually like this kind of thing." She fingered one of the necklaces that had a transmutation circle pendant; some of the pendants looked like working circles and others were more decorative than anything. "Maybe for that girl, um... Ryan?"

"Those actually aren't bad ideas," Al commented. "Yeah, we could get one for Ryan, and maybe Lily... Megan would kill us if we gave her anything, though, and Mom would be too mad about us disappearing to like it."

"Then let's get the cheapest thing for Lily," Ed muttered as he checked prices. The younger Elric elbowed him in the side angrily in response. "Hey! You know she'd be happy with just about anything! Especially if it's free!"

The two discussed quietly if they'd actually get anything and what, but Rillie's attention was drawn to the entrance when she heard the door chimes. In walked her brother, Milo, probably wanting to add to his shirt collection.

"Wow, I didn't know you guys were coming here!" He grinned as he stepped over to the trio. "What's up?"

"I figured I should bring them to get souvenirs, since they may leave soon." She raised her eyebrow at him. "I thought you were hanging out with your friends?"

"I was going to, but then they called to say that there was going to be a party at the twins' tonight. I've just been wandering around until it starts." He glanced over to the brothers and a smile came on. "Hey, would you guys want to come?"

Rillie's eyes widened, and she interceded before they could give him a response. "No, Milo! Don't drag them to a party with your friends! Bad things always happen at them!"

"That's a bit of an exaggeration-"

"Is it _really?_ " She glared at him as he considered it.

"...I guess you're right. But I'd make sure nothing happened to them!"

"I know I shouldn't be making decisions for them, but I'm still really uncomfortable with the idea."

"Come on! They should get a chance to let loose- treat going to this as a celebration! They made it to Amestris alive!" Take note that he did not even know how they came to the country.

"But I don't want them to go back home seriously injured!"

"Is it really that bad?" Al questioned, more out of curiosity than wanting to go to the party despite her warnings.

She looked over to the brothers and lifted up her forearm, reminding them of the cut that used to be there. They'd manage to heal it enough that there was almost no scar left. "This happened when I was just _standing in the same room_. Imagine what a bunch of boys would accomplish while actually moving."

"If that's the case," Ed interjected, "then we could consider this as more practice with healing."

"That's true. I'd trust you guys to fix people up a lot more than the other guys going." Milo was pleased that they were warming up to the idea, even if it was for a different reason that he didn't fully understand.

"You're really thinking about going?" Rillie looked at Ed and Al, surprised at the mild interest, since they didn't exactly seem like avid partiers.

"I'm not 100% set on the idea, but it seems like there isn't really in any harm in going if we have alchemy," Ed explained, and Al agreed with a nod.

 _Oh dear. Boys really_ are _idiots._ She sighed to herself. "If that's the case, then I'm coming along."

She hurried them to choose what they'd buy and get out of the shop so they could get ready for the night.

* * *

"I feel so much regret before I've even stepped through the door," Rillie groaned as the house holding the party came into view. Ed and Al walked behind her and Milo, glancing at each other worriedly and readjusting the positions of their backpacks on their shoulders.

Honestly, the brothers were a bit anxious. They hadn't gone to something like this before, and horrible things always happened at such events, according to stories and Rillie. They had the excuses that this was to experience more Amestrian culture and possibly put alkahemy to use if it came to it, but it was still nerve-wracking. They most likely made the worst decision ever.

Luckily, they had healing circles on their persons- written on papers and on their skin. And, if they needed to do some other sort of transmutation, they hopefully had the knowledge to do so with clapping. As long as they did not partake of harmful substances, things should at least go _decent_.

Loud music resonated from the house, but it sounded more like just a muffled consistent noisemaker with an intense bass beat until the group was at the entrance.

"Wow, Amestrians actually have better taste in music," Ed noted to his brother, passing through the doorway.

"It's not very good for dancing, though," Al pointed out. Milo and Rillie gave him a confused look.

"Dancing? Why would we want to dance?" the eldest asked loudly.

Ed raised his brow, but voiced a question back for clarification. "Isn't that what people are supposed to do at parties? Pretend to know how to dance and/or jump up and down?"

"Um, no?"

"I thought people were weird _here_ ," Rillie commented, wondering what else Ed and Al's countrymen did in their odd culture. Both just shook their head as if to say "Never mind" and returned to soaking in their new environment.

Well, it otherwise looked like what one would expect: people everywhere, snacks and cups everywhere, a group of guys chanting in the middle of the hallway. It didn't seem like things could get much more chaotic beyond that, though. Ed was starting to wonder if things would really take a turn for the worst like Rillie predicted, and allowed his backpack to drop from his shoulder to his hand.

"Hey!" Milo suddenly shouted to catch the attention of his other friends. He gestured for the Elrics to follow him to greet the guys. "What's up? Ed and Al, these are the hosts for tonight."

They actually recognized one of them. It was that one guy they'd seen a certain female friend get ticked off at the first day they'd arrived to Amestris. However, this time he was sitting next to someone who looked quite similar to him. They weren't identical, but it was definitely realistic to assume they were the twins.

"Welcome!" One of them said loudly and dramatically, causing both to started chuckling. They immediately came off as being drunk. Ed and Al caught a glimpse of a few cans by the couch. Ah, yes, that explains it.

"I hope they're cool, Milo," the other said, apparently trying to sound serious. "Don't want anyone to be ruining the fun."

"Naw, they're crazy cool!" the white-haired young man grinned. "And they're foreign!"

"Foreign? From where?" Somehow, the twins seemed more suspicious than intrigued. Why they were suspicious, Ed and Al weren't sure.

 _Rillie and Milo treated us fine when we first met,_ Al thought. _Are these guys just suspicious of everyone?_

"Kahlia," Ed answered easily.

Milo was surprised and pleased to finally hear of their origins. "Oh, really? No wonder I couldn't figure out your accent!" He smiled, but his friends weren't satisfied.

"Why are you in Amestris?" the first asked, narrowing his eyes.

Rillie rolled her eyes; clearly, they were attempting to interrogate. Before Milo could tell the twins to knock it off, Ed retorted, "What? Are people not allowed to visit other countries? Is it a _crime?_ "

"I don't know, _is it?_ " the second twin replied smartly. Right, they were inebriated.

"We're not here to cause any trouble," Al quickly inserted before his brother said anything that could get them kicked out.

Both scoffed in sync, and they swayed a bit. "Yeah, ri-" one began to say, when the sound of objects tumbling down, some shattering, and a cry of pain rang from another part of the house.

"Not here for five minutes and already there's been an injury," Rillie grumbled as she and the rest of her group hurried to see what happened, the hosts stumbling behind them to do the same.

Upon reaching the scene, they found a pair of guys splayed out in a mess of broken chairs and glass, both groaning in pain. One of them had an arm that seemed to be bent unnaturally.

All winced at the sight, but the brothers recovered quickly to see what they could do. They slid to the ground and let off their backpacks. First and foremost, they went for the broken arm.

"Let's use the one just for bones first, then fix up the job with a general," Ed muttered to his brother, who nodded in agreement and pulled out the appropriate circle from his pocket. They gently slid it underneath the injured arm, more to the upper arm to not irritate the broken part any further, and without further ado activated it. As the transmutation went, Ed manually moved the arm back into its natural position, making the patient bust out an agonized shout. Nonetheless, the bone was fused back together and the highest priority was done with.

Ed moved the circle they just used so that Al could then put the new one on. Apparently, he'd drawn the basic alkahemy circles on the back of his hand, as he just put his hand on the healed-ish arm and the Sharpie on his skin started to glow. Ed joined in with his own circles for the arm and later the other gashes on the man's body.

Rillie watched in fascination as the boys worked. Somehow, they'd already become experts at this when, as far as she knew, they'd only practiced on her. We're they basically untrained paramedics at this point? Well, maybe they still would not have the skill for worse injuries and things involving organs, but still! This was very impressive!

Milo gaped at them, then glanced to Rillie, then returned to them. Apparently, he had not been informed that they were studying _medicinal_ alchemy. At least some of their earlier statements now made more sense.

"Could you guys help?" Al asked quietly, unknowingly knocking the Amestrian siblings out of their shock. He and his brother had slipped the arms of one of the injured around their shoulders and were lifting him up off the ground. Rillie and Milo nodded and hurried over to help the second guy out.

The guys were sat at a pair of chairs nearby that weren't broken and Milo ran out the room to get the twins' first-aid kit from their bathroom.

"Anything else broken?" Ed asked quickly to them, and they shook their heads numbly with wide eyes. This must've been a crazy past few minutes for them.

"Wow, you guys are so awesome!" Rillie exclaimed to the brothers, who looked up to her then mildly blushed.

"We wouldn't be this far without having practiced with you," Al replied modestly, denying the greatness she was bestowing upon them with her compliment. He quickly moved to retrieve the stuff they'd left on the floor and returned with it.

Ed nodded in agreement, taking back his share of items from his sibling, and added, "Yeah, seriously. And we still have a long way to go before going home."

"Whatever the case, I think you guys have this," she stated honestly with a bittersweet smile on her face. _They can do this. They can go back to their home and heal that girl._

 _They can actually do this._

Al was just starting to open his mouth again, most likely to express gratitude to her, when the twins made their presence known again with a stern "A _hem_." The trio looked over, then became tense upon seeing the intense look on the hosts' faces.

"What was _that?_ " Thing One questioned rudely, pointing behind him to where the healing session had taken place.

"It was alkahemy. What, you have a problem with that?" Ed snarled. He'd managed to be civil with pretty much everyone he'd met in this country, but something about these guys just really brought out his keen ability to be uncivil.

"Actually, yeah, we have a problem with it," Thing Two sassed back in response. "See, Amestris has some bad history with foreigners that came to _'learn alchemy'_."

"We don't want any more terrorists coming to our country," the first continued.

"We don't know how you two managed to get in-"

"-But we definitely plan to get you out before another war starts."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Rillie objected, stepping forward to get into their faces. "That's a really harsh claim you're making there. Ed and Al are really good guys who have done nothing wrong. Why are you accusing them like that?"

"They already fessed up to being foreign, and they are clearly talented alchemists. With everything that's already happened, that's a dangerous combination. We gotta kick them back to Drachma-"

"We never said we were from Drachma, _first_ of all!" Ed interceded, bristling at every sentence the twins said. "And second, we just _helped_ your _friends!_ We wouldn't if we were planning something bad." He narrowed his eyes at both. "If anything, you two should be apologizing and _thanking_ us."

They scoffed. "You just want us to trust you a little more so it's all the easier to commit your terrorist activities," the second spat. How they managed to look so sober and dangerous with such ridiculous claims, Rillie couldn't figure out. She knew they were somewhat xenophobic, but not to this extent. If she thought she hated Milo's friends before they threw this stuff at her own friends...

"Guys, let's just go," she muttered to Ed and Al, barely keeping her voice from expressing her true feelings of the situation. She noticed both were squeezing their hands into fists, as if just restraining themselves from punching something or some _one_. She didn't blame them.

Ultimately, they resigned and stiffly nodded to her, slipping their backpacks onto their backs once again.

The trio began stalking back toward the front door- having only been in the house for maximum 10 minutes, and already everything became a disaster. Milo had finally started to come back, holding up a white box.

"Finally got it! It was somewhere else than it usually is-" he stopped talking when he realized they were all in a very foul mood.

"Going back to the hotel," Rillie replied to his unvoiced question with a short, clipped answer. "Will explain once there."

"O-okay. I'll catch up later." He held up the white box again, implying he was gonna help patch up the injured guys a bit more. They nodded to him and were about to continue to the exit, but were stopped once again.

"And just where do you think you're going?"

Begrudgingly, the trio turned to address the twins, along with Milo, but they all collectively paled upon seeing what they held in their hands.

"Stay here, and I won't bother using this," the twin holding their dad's rifle said very smugly, his brother folding his arms over his chest in a stern manner at the same time. "And I actually know how to shoot- we went hunting last week."

"You- you're kidding, right?" poor Milo managed to get out, eyes flicking around to everyone, but staying the longest on the twins. "What is going on here?"

"Milo, Milo, Milo," the twin with his arms crossed muttered in disapproval. "You were unknowingly befriending Drachman alchemist terrorists."

" _Wugh?!_ " he blurted out incredulously in response, just as he realized that Ed, Al, and Rillie had quickly run out the moment they had their wits about them.

* * *

 **I was just as surprised as I imagine you are by where everything went. I was hoping the events all the way at the beginning of this sequel would have meaning for later, but not in this way! Aw dang! O.O**

 **Before I knew it, I only had 7 alternates left until the alphabet's done! I had to be a bit more picky about planning what I'd actually write for these last ones. The first two directly relate to where things could've deviated in this very chapter (and I wanted to put in a random conversation that came up in my brain after I saw one of the older ANs in this very story), and the third is... uh... yeah. I saw a picture on Facebook that inspired the description for Alt. V. It's horrible, I know. But it's also morbidly funny!**

 **I sure hope I'll get the rest of the chapters done by somewhere in May, so it'll end about a year after I started posting! :D That'd make me happy. (Oh, and I just saw my first AN for this story, which reminded me of something- turns out, my mom actually _hadn't_ thrown away my sketchbook! It had disappeared during all of the time in our last move, and popped up again while unpacking _this_ time. Yes, we move a lot.)**

 **Have a fantabulous life! K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Route) T:

 _"And just where do you think you're going?"_

They all let out a barely-audible frustrated sigh and turned around, only to mildly gape at what one of the twins held in his hand.

"What do you plan to do with that?" Rillie questioned, not entirely sure whether she should be nervous or not by the home phone in their grasp. She hoped their brains weren't being overly logical at the moment.

"Call the cops," the other twin answered nonchalantly with a smug shrug. Okay, so they _were_ being kinda logical for the situation they thought they were in.

"What do you want us to do, then?" Ed grumbled out through his clenched teeth, trying to not scream profanities at them for their idiocies.

"Just sit here and wait for them to arrive. It'll be a _whole_ lot worse for you and everyone else if you try to run."

The blond couldn't believe he was _still_ getting surprised by these guys. "You really expect us to _stay here_ to let ourselves get _arrested_ for a crime we _never committed?_ "

"Yup."

"That's an unfair demand and you know it!" Rillie shouted, stomping her foot down to make a point.

"Well, if you _do_ let yourselves be taken into the station and you prove your innocence, then what do you have to be worried about?" he said as he began typing the number in. It was at this moment that the brothers and Rillie began to pale.

Ed and Al had no legal papers.

They seriously were not going to luck out like they had with the doctor. With this accusation they were going to be searched intensely, and when absolutely nothing is found on them...

Basically, bad things were going to happen to them.

Milo was barely questioning the hosts what was going on and why they thought it necessary to get the _cops_ when his sister and her friends sprinted out the door.

* * *

Alt T: the twins ignore them and call up the police, reporting terrorist activity from their house, insisting Ed and Al were Drachman and admitted to planning to help ruin Amestris. Can they escape?

* * *

Alternate (Route) U:

 _The two discussed quietly if they'd actually get anything and what, but Rillie's attention was drawn to the entrance when she heard the door chimes._

It was just some other random shopper, so she dismissed their appearance and returned to listening to the brothers' conversation.

Ed had already gotten himself off-track, though. "I just thought of something. Does your brother get shirts from Milos?" he said with a smirk, thinking he was clever.

She only groaned in response. "Don't say that to Milo's face. He got teased about that a lot when he was younger."

"It's not like he's really named after the country, though, right?" Al asked quietly, annoyed by his sibling's inability to be sensitive. "And where we come from, there _are_ actually people named after places."

"I still think it's weird, but people do it," his brother added with a shrug.

"Well, that's not exactly a norm around here," she said as she shook her head. "Especially for guys. And my mom's already told us that they really did name him after Milos by accident."

"How do you give a baby a name by _accident?_ "

"My parents hadn't known he was a boy until my mom gave birth, and they were really grasping for a decent boy name to give him at the very moment. They'd traveled to Milos for their honeymoon, so that name popped up, and they hadn't quite realized where it came from until the next day. By then, they'd already signed the birth certificate and announced his name to their family and friends, so they said 'Oh well.' _That's_ how you name a baby by accident."

Ed stared blankly, then looked back at the trinkets in his hands. "Huh."

Al tried to not smile as a thought came to him. "His name definitely isn't that bad compared to some of the ones _we've_ heard, though."

" _Oh_ yeah," his older brother snorted out, the same stories popping up in his mind. "Let's pay for this stuff and tell you _aaall_ about them."

"This better be good; I know you guys are going to drag me to the library while telling me," she accused good-naturedly, not actually minding at all. As long as she got to talk to them and she knew they were safe, she was perfectly happy.

"Oh, you won't regret hearing these," Ed said with a huge, somewhat frightening grin. Even with that, she doubted she could regret hanging out with these boys. She smiled back and took out her wallet to help pay.

* * *

Alt U: Twins didn't have the party, so Milo never showed up at the store, and everything else went relatively normal the rest of the day.

* * *

Alternate (Toll) V:

 _Pairs of wide purple eyes blinked open, all staring at him._

 _Black hands lunged for him, violently pulling him into the inky space._

He then suddenly felt the squeezing of the hands loosen, as most of them let him go for some reason. The brave souls who stuck on despite how badly they felt an invisible force pushing them away- like when the same poles of two magnets facing each other repel- were determined to get _something_ from one of the rare visitors of the Gate.

To his horror, he thought he saw a glimpse of the fingers of his left hand start to disintegrate upon the touch of one of the violet-eyed beings.

He had no time to fully grasp what was occurring then, for he was suddenly attacked with an _impossibly_ -large barrage of _information_.

The pain of the intense mental overload made him pass out before any of the physical pain he would've endured upon arriving in the next world could be felt.

* * *

John Edward Elric was in for a shock when he saw what happened to his brother when he woke up in Amestris.

* * *

Alt. V: If Matt had brought along that T-shirt with a T-Rex on it that read "If you're happy and you know it, clap your- Oh." the universe would've been very, very cruelly ironic...


	17. Chapter 17

***whoopwhoopwhoopwhoopwhoop***

 **School's almost over, guys! :D And I've barely had anything to do (which is kinda weird for me), and so I've been writing a little at a time during school hours and pretending I'm actually being useful. :P It finally paid off, as the alternates are officially _done_! YES! I DID IT! I GOT THROUGH THE WHOLE ALPHABET! ;u;**

 **This is the next part of that craziness going on in Amestris, where Ed and Al are being chased by Americ- I mean, _Amestrians._ Yeah. Because my fellow countrymen totally wouldn't be that violent. Never. (At least we don't tar-and-feather anymore... ;-;)**

 **Before this starts, I just wanna say that I'm scared about where our country's gonna go if our choices between presidential candidates are Hillary Clinton and _Donald Freakin' Trump_. Is it really too late to just call this whole election thing off? Cuz no matter the result everything will crash and burn. ;-; PLEASE NOT TRUMP, AT LEAST!**

 **On that horrifying note, on with the story!**

* * *

"You sure Milo's actually _friends_ with them?" Ed panted to Rillie as they hit the pavement.

"Yeah. I knew they were horrible, but I couldn't have predicted _this_." She was more of a runner, so she was feeling a little better at the start of their sprint, but she wasn't sure how long it'd last. "Though, now that I think of it, their family has always been somewhat... _passionate_ about the fight against Drachma. Their grandpa fought in the war."

"The War for Independence?" Al wheezed out, recalling the festival on the day they'd arrived. She tried to nod back, but it wasn't so visible considering her body was in constant motion.

"Why do they insist we're Drachman? I said Kahlia!" Ed cried out in frustration. "We don't even _look_ Drachman!"

They passed by the hotel they'd come from, but Rillie urged them to press on, thinking it'd be better to hide somewhere else.

As she looked around the unfamiliar area, trying to choose a good place to take a break, she called out to them, "Actually, you do look like you could be Drachman."

Both blinked at her in surprise. "Is Mom part Russian?" Al asked his brother, who just shrugged back as they ran. The three made the decision to take a sharp turn at a random intersection.

The streets were pretty empty, which meant they weren't likely to run into innocent passerby in their hurry, but it also meant they were in plain sight of the twins, whom they were pretty sure were actually following. In the distance, the sound of pairs of shoes vehemently smacking the road could be heard.

They found themselves re-entering in some quiet suburbs, and, out of desperation, Rillie steered them towards the closest backyard shed that was easily accessible. It had been left unlocked, thankfully (though they probably could have attempted to get past an obstacle such as that with a clap-and-zap of alchemy). It looked large and very tall from the outside, but upon entering, it was found that the ceiling was actually quite low. The three gasped for breath, letting off any cargo they carried from their shoulders, as they tried to get their brains to churn out a possible plan of action from this point on. Ed looked up and studied the wooden ceiling for a bit before quietly clapping his hands and placing them on it. Blue sparks fizzed about his hands and the ceiling, and a few seconds later died down to show he had transmuted an attic door, cut near one of the shed's top corners. He gingerly opened it and attempted to peer into the thick darkness.

Al and Rillie wordlessly understood the plan and allowed their interlocked hands to act as a booster to help Ed up and see if the newly-made attic could actually work as a proper hiding place. He shuffled into the space, and the ceiling seemed to hold him fine, though the dust in there caused him to have a coughing fit. Nonetheless, Al passed up a random gardening tool- the big kind, as big as a broom- to transmute into the ceiling to hopefully make it sturdier. (He mentally apologized to whoever owned it as he did so.) Rillie wanted to go last, since it was least important for her to be hiding, but, after a short whispered argument with Al, she relented and allowed the boys to help her up next. Al was just barely attempting to climb in after her into the attic with the assistance of the two already inside when they heard distant shouting. He rushed to clamber in, and then quickly resealed the attic door back into the ceiling, hopefully doing it well enough that there were not any obvious transmutation marks visible to anyone that decided to enter.

It was then that the brothers realized that they'd accidentally left their backpacks on the shed floor.

They found they had no time to correct their mistake because the loud talking was a lot closer now.

It was hard to make out their drunken yells, but it could be assumed what their general message was. So strange how the twins had seemed relatively harmless before, but looked quite serious about their accusation and planning to act. Something about them had made it seem like they really were not bluffing- if they thought their country was in danger, they were willing to use that gun.

 _Sounds like what everyone thinks us Americans are like,_ Ed mused, despite the situation. _Too bad I'm on the other end of their patriotism._

Though they were still taking in deep breaths, the trio tried to make them as slow and quiet as possible to not alert anyone within close proximity.

Apparently, they were still heard, their hiding place was too obvious, or the twins were just lucky at guessing. _"COME OUT!"_ was heard from right outside the shed before a warning shot came out of the rifle. They all cringed at the gun's loud bang and instinctively covered their ears.

 _The gun is really loaded,_ Rillie thought as she once again paled. _I can't believe this is happening!_

After a few more minutes of the twins shouting threats and insults, the sound of other people talking from further away barely reached them.

It must've been the neighbors, concerned about the shot and shouting.

They weren't sure about specific wording, but in little time the twins seemed to convince the strangers to join their side, as the brothers and Rillie could then hear them equally raging at the shed.

Eventually, someone got sick of the waiting and opened the door, finding that there seemed to be no one inside. They scoffed and turned to the twins to demand an explanation.

 _"But look!"_ One of them pointed out something within the building. _"Those belonged to the terrorists. They must've stopped here and left them behind. They're probably still nearby."_

There seemed to be some begrudged agreement, and the small mob moved on, though they were likely to come back soon to check again.

After a few minutes of silence, the group in the shed finally talked out loud again, though they tried to keep the level low anyway.

"What should we do now?" Al whispered. They all realized, after all, that if they stayed then the twins would surely come back and take a closer look and find their hiding place. If they got out and moved somewhere else, though, they may be spotted due to the lack of surroundings that serve as decent covers in the area.

Rillie gulped as she decided to voice the thought that she'd had in the tense silence. "I was thinking, that maybe... you guys should go home."

She heard the movement of both in response, most likely turning themselves to stare in her direction. "Go _home?_ Right here, right now?" Ed questioned, apparently not really liking the suggestion.

Rillie released a sigh as she tried to adjust into a more comfortable position in the cramped space. "Well, there isn't really a good way to avoid them otherwise... You guys have already done most of the research you needed to do, and really just need a bit more practice, as far as I can tell. Even if you stayed, you'd be scared about them or someone like them going after you. I wouldn't want to see you guys living in constant fear."

"We aren't ready to go back, though. There's still plenty of books we planned to check out in the library," Al muttered.

Ed made a noise of agreement. "And we wanted to find more opportunities for practice."

"How long have you guys been here? Almost a _week?_ As far as I understood, there's a dire situation waiting for you over there. You can't use up more time than necessary. And you guys have already accomplished so much in the time you've been here."

"What about you?" Al asked, displaying concern in his voice.

"I'll be fine. I'm not the one that's really in danger here; and if I was, Milo would do his best to protect me. He can be scary when he needs to be."

"This is just... really sudden and rushed," he worried aloud, hesitant to leave Rillie to fend for herself, and a bit uneasy at the possibility that the pressure will make them mess up.

"You guys will be okay," she stated in assurance, voice even but sincere. "I believe in you."

There was a silence as the brothers silently made up their minds.

"If you're sure it's best to go now, then we should," Ed finally said, trusting in Rillie's confidence in her suggestion.

"We'll need to get our backpacks first, though," his younger brother pointed out.

Rillie rolled her eyes and frowned at them. "I know you guys have been carrying them around everywhere, but are they really _that_ important to you?"

"All our research is in there," Ed immediately answered, apparently a bit ticked that she seemed to think they were being materialistic. "Along with the rest of our money and the souvenirs."

"You didn't have your money in your pocket?"

"No!" he whisper-yelled back, barely catching himself before he did an actual loud reply.

"We wouldn't even be able to see our work if we stayed up here, plus you'd get caught up in the whole thing," Al directed to Rillie, who then felt sheepish for not even thinking about that.

They paused to double-check there was no sound of someone nearby before Al softly clapped and transmuted a door into the ceiling again. They all climbed out rather ungracefully, but luckily relatively quickly and quietly. A short moment was spent to stretch out after the torture of the newly-made attic, then the boys went to grab their backpacks and put them on their shoulders once again. Not before grabbing a piece of chalk from inside one of the pockets, though.

To speed up perfecting the circle, they grabbed a long piece of twine and held one end with the chalk to use as a rudimentary compass set. The other end acted as the middle of the circle, and so they held it down and spun around the end with the chalk until the chalk circle was completely drawn. Rillie snickered and said they were cheating, but they ignored the comment.

Since the original alkahemic circle seemed to work well enough the first time, they drew the same design; it was easy to remember, since it had been somewhat simple, but they still had a messy version of it for reference in their bags just in case. With a small transmutation, the symbol they'd been worried about in the middle was taken care of easily.

To imitate the markers they had the first time, they grabbed a few large nails and a hammer from a part of the shed and whacked them into the wood flooring in the appropriate spots.

They were almost done when the door suddenly flew open. On instinct, the brothers went into defensive mode at the scare, and were relieved to see that it was Milo, not one of the crazy, drunk, gun-happy twins.

He was panting hard and visibly anxious by the whole situation. Whether he stopped to help the injured guys from the party or not, he had gone out the door too late to see which direction everyone had gone, and thus took longer to find them.

He stared at them as he caught his breath, then looked down to the chalk transmutation circle with nails hammered in on the outer rim.

"Can someone... explain... exactly... what's happening?" he mildly pleaded between gasps.

They all gestured for him to shush up and he complied, attempting to make his breathing quieter. He quietly entered and swung the door to half-closed behind him.

"Can't explain everything, sorry," Ed whispered, actually looking somewhat apologetic. "In short, since your friends seem rather intent on killing us, Rillie said we should send ourselves back home by transmutation."

"You can actually do that?" he asked quietly, raising a brow as he looked at the transmutation circle, which the brothers were now looking over for any mistakes.

"...To _our_ country, yeah," Al ultimately replied because, well, technically that was true.

"Can you please check that no one is coming? This is probably gonna be really bright," Rillie asked of her brother, who blinked and nodded, and moved back outside of the shed. She took this moment to sigh and look to the light-haired brothers. Ed's brown eyes and Al's gray ones were now focused on the final checkover of the drawing that would take them away from Amestris, most likely for forever. After all, it was dangerous enough for them to try this one trip, so why would they do it again unless necessary? She'd want to see them again in the future, but she also didn't want their lives to be in peril and wouldn't want something else to happen that would require going to such lengths as going to another world.

Wow, that sounded so unreal. Another _world_.

They certainly were an unworldly pair of brothers, though. She couldn't think of anyone like them. They stood out despite having pretty average appearances. Yes, it's for the best that they go as soon as possible to the place where they belonged.

Why'd she have to let herself get so drawn in into them, though? She only knew them for a few days and they were still mostly a mystery, but already she felt close to them and... well, this whole situation _sucked_.

"Yeah, I don't see anyone, but you should still move fast," Milo told them, interrupting everyone's trains of thoughts.

"Right," they all muttered in response. They just sat there for a moment, anyway, apparently ignoring his advice.

"Are you guys going through the Gate?" the white-haired young man suddenly asked, surprising the others. Rillie wasn't aware he actually knew enough about alchemy to put two and two together; she certainly couldn't have without a decent explanation first. They numbly nodded to him, and he himself seemed pleasantly surprised that he was actually right.

"Wow! So this actually proves there's another world on the other side..."

"We'd appreciate if you didn't let that out, though," Al interceded nervously, understandably.

"Oh! Yeah, I get it," Milo replied, hoping they'd trust him to keep this quiet.

"You have everything, right?" Rillie asked them, returning the brothers back to the task.

"I'm really tempted to double-check my backpack, but..."

"Unless someone stole something from us, which I doubt, we should have everything," Ed finished for his younger brother.

Rillie really felt inclined to hug them, but didn't think the elder of the two would take too kindly to it, so she refrained. Instead, she offered up a small smile and shakily said, "It was nice to meet you both."

Her brother managed to sound more casual and gave a half-grin. "Same. And I plan to cross the twins off my friends list, okay?"

"You better!" Rillie scoffed quietly, silently appreciating his way of making the air lighter, even though the humor was somewhat the sort that shouldn't be laughed at.

"Let's move," Ed stated firmly, hoping to get the transmutation started before someone else showed up or they had second thoughts.

"Come on, Milo," she muttered to her sibling, nudging him to step outside the shed so they wouldn't end up part of the transmutation too. They then stood just outside the doorway, looking around to check once again no one was around and then staring into where the brothers kneeled at the chalk circle.

"Bye," she called quietly, waving sheepishly at them. Ed and Al chuckled for a second and reciprocated the gesture.

Al then paused and looked conflicted. He rushed his decision and ultimately blurted out what he wanted to say. "Our full names are John Edward Elric and Matt Alphonse Elric."

"Al!"

"I thought they deserved to know, Brother!"

Ed shook his head as the other pair of siblings had wide eyes as they tried to process what exactly telling their full names would mean. Without further ado, the Elric brothers clapped their hands, glanced to each other, and pressed said hands down onto the circle.

The chalk suddenly lit up in an unnatural but familiar way, starting with an innocent blue, zapping and swirling in to fill in all the drawn shapes. A breeze picked up in the small shack, throwing about the hair and loose garments of the brothers, doing the same to a lesser extent to the Amestrians standing just at the door. Dust from the floor floated up and was pushed off the circle by the wind as the electrical blue of the transmutation became brighter and more erratic. In a terrifying yet beautiful way, _purple_ suddenly swam its way into the show, and it took a millisecond for it to conquer all the blue. Violet overtook the vision of everyone for another millisecond, then the rest of the second was replaced by _black_ , shooting vertically up then curving toward the alchemists in ribbons, invading in dozens then _hundreds_ of strands of _shadow-_

Then just black.

When vision returned to Rillie and Milo, the Elric brothers were gone, only leaving behind a chalk circle drawn in a stranger's tool shed as proof they ever existed in the first place.

* * *

 **OH MY GOSH SO DRAMA**

 **You can probably tell that the end is near, and I will no longer deny saying so in the ANs. I didn't want to scare anyone. I'm sorry! DX**

 **I did my best to come up with interesting alternates since these are some of the last ones, but they became increasingly difficult. Do you know how difficult it is to come up with new ideas when you've already used approximately 22 (not even including the actual storyline)?! D: I somehow managed to do it!... sort of. I got desperate with Alt. Y cuz I'd been trying to come up with something awesome for weeks. I had _W_ and _X_ and even _Z_ (which is saved for next chapter), but freaking _why didn't Y want to be written?! ;-;_**

 ***ahem***

 **This first one I assume was inspired by Moonlit Water Sunny River's work "Hero of the People" (it'd be awesome if ya planned on updating that anytime soon, buddy ;3), which in turn I'm assuming that aspect of the story came from Scar's arm? (Thaaat sentence would not make any sense out of context. XD) I'll mention the other two in another AN later (which I know I usually don't do, but it feels appropriate this time).**

* * *

Alternate (Route) W:

 _The robber, who Ed had thought was down and out for the count, had somehow gotten back up to threaten once again. He backed the Elric against a wall again, still pointing the knife toward the blond._

* * *

" _Brother!" He turned quickly to find that the other man had basically put Al into the same position._

* * *

 _Seeing Al in danger seemed to spark something within Ed._

As if driven by an instinct that was always buried within him but never awoke until now, his hands slammed together and moved to hit the area of the wall beside him. Blue light zapped around his fingers and the brick, then zipped down toward the ground. Instead of a typical transmutation occurring, however, an intense _earthquake_ concentrated right within the confines of the alley activated, causing slabs of earth to sink, others to tip and rise up, and the rest to completely fall apart. The end result was the peaceful, flat ground quickly becoming a chaotic disaster that was dangerous to even _consider_ stepping on- and it was all done below the feet of the two robbers.

Both swayed and fell into the cracks, the fractures ensnaring their knives and their legs. Ed and Al felt the effects to a smaller degree and hardly kept themselves upright at the transmutation, but managed to evade the scarier parts of the ground. Both stood as still as possible, numb in shock. After a few tense seconds, the only sound in the area was that of the thieves' pained and frustrated grunts as they tried to pull their limbs out of the ground. The Elrics took that as a cue to finally dare to breathe and observe how to get out of the alley. They checked that this time the robbers definitely couldn't chase them down before making sure they had all their belongings and slowly picking their way through the obstacle course, attempting to only step on slabs that stayed intact. They soon found themselves back on stable ground, and looked over their shoulders back to the alley.

 _Did I really just do that?_ Ed questioned himself desperately, hoping he wasn't truly the cause of such destruction. He knew this wasn't the time to ponder on the disturbing thought, though; he and Al had to escape. Therefore, he nodded to his brother and both sprinted down the sidewalk back to the library, never realizing Rillie was staring at their backs- partially hiding behind the open doorway of the closest building- with fear.

* * *

"I promise, I really have no idea how I did that!" John said to his brother, clearly scared of what had happened.

"The part of how you clapped your hands, I get that," Matt argued quietly, staring at his own palms as it registered he most likely had that power now too, "but the rest of it doesn't make sense. Did you gain some knowledge on that in the Gate?"

They both sat down against the wall within the confines of the library, and Ed started running fingers through his hair nervously, showing his distress at the situation. "Not that I know of..."

"Okay, what was running through your head right then?"

"Just that I wanted to protect you, I guess," the elder admitted. He wanted to argue about not being a violent person, but both knew some of his past said otherwise. Still, his brother knew what he was really like, and this wasn't quite characteristic of him.

Both sat there silently for a moment as they tried to think of what this meant. Ultimately, Ed himself was the one to throw his hands up as if giving up. "You know what? I want to try that again, and see if my alchemy even works properly."

"I doubt there's something wrong with your _alchemy_ ," Al said skeptically as his brother got up to snatch a random flyer on the table nearby, then plopped back down onto the ground.

"I'm just going to try bunching it up into a ball," he explained quickly before clapping his hands and putting them on the single paper. The blue shocks surrounded the paper, as expected, but they suddenly became more erratic. The paper convulsed violently for a second, then suddenly exploded into confetti.

Both widened their eyes at the shredded remains of his deconstructing transmutation. "...Or there _is_ ," the younger eventually amended, concerned about what this meant for his brother and even himself.

Al attempted to transmute the paper back into one piece, and it only disintegrated even further.

Yeah... they had a serious problem here.

* * *

Alt. W: Transmutations are more difficult and require more energy on the Elrics' side of the Gate, and their bodies were apparently incapable of adjusting to the lesser amount needed for alchemy in Amestris; thus, the result is their transmutations in this country are unintentionally destructive and even sometimes explosive. They are far more terrified of trying to use it, especially on _people_ , which is exactly what they had come to research.

* * *

Alternate (Alchemy) X:

A random porta-potty with a welcome mat in front of it appears. It is angry.

* * *

Alt X: When the Elrics do the transmutation to cross the Gate, it turns them into their namesake- thus, Matt's a mat and John's a john.

* * *

 **Thank John Bytheway for that stupidness. XD In one of his acts, he talked about how his class was asked to draw their name (which is a really weird assignment, right?) and he ultimately came up with drawing an outhouse next to a windy path. Hehe.**

 **I'd been avoiding linking any more alternates together, but this was the best idea I could come up with for Y, so boo. The beginning lines are always from actual chapters, and so let's just pretend that inserting a line from Alt. E is perfectly fine since it was its own chapter anyways... *sweatdrop* But yeah. So remember how that one was about Lily getting sucked to Amestris, and it started with her and Megan catching the brothers right when they were doing the grand transmutation to go to the Gate? This starts from there.**

 **K bai!**

* * *

Alternate (Visitors) Y:

 _The moment her foot touched the final step, the boys' hands had slapped the circle._

Like something out of the movies, time seemed to slow down as a sudden neon light erupted in the basement, composed not of a soft glow but instead something reminiscent of lightning crawling on the ground. Lily was sure she heard a deep, ominous _boom_ resonate at the same time, only emphasizing the feeling of everything moving in slow-mo. She gathered the courage a second later to fully face the source of such dramatic effects.

She whined pathetically as she took in the amazing and terrifying sight, the only word repeating in her head, just like earlier in the day, being _NO!_ She wanted to shout a desperate plea to stop, but- if there was _anything_ she learned about alchemy... it was that, once you started, you couldn't go back.

Megan apparently had never received that memo- well, that made sense since she had barely any idea what the heck was going on- as she did not hold herself back. " _What_ are you _doing?!_ " the younger girl's voice raged just behind Lily, causing the brothers to look up and visibly pale.

As Ed and Al attempted to form a proper response that wouldn't take too much of their attention away from the dangerous transmutation, Lily felt herself get pushed away by a surprisingly strong pair of small arms. She regained her balance as she realized Megan was _marching right up to the middle of the room_.

"No! Get back here!" she shouted in a horrified tone and leaped forward to pull the Elric sister away from certain death.

Her efforts were completely ignored. "Stop whatever this is, you idiots!" Megan continued with a fiery glare, fixated on the faces of her brothers that were only seen by glimpses at a time when a particularly large spark lit up.

"MOVE!" Ed ultimately ordered harshly at his sister, motioning for her to get away, Al helping out with matching urgency. They should've known Megan didn't listen to anybody.

The Elrics never learn, do they?

Not only did the 10-year-old escape Lily's grasp, she swooped forward and pushed her own brothers away from the light show, unconcerned about the consequences. They fell back and scrambled back onto their hands and knees to try to save their sister and the transmutation, but they couldn't move in time.

Neither could Lily's mouth form words fast enough to berate her actions and explain why they were a _horrible_ idea. Too soon did the sparks decide to shift to purple- too soon did skinny black armsreach out and wrap around the unsuspecting _little girl-_

Black flashed across everyone's vision, and then the sparks slowly dissipated as if they didn't just swallow an entire human being.

Megan was gone.

 _Gone._

Lily squeaked out a scream as the remaining teenage trio stared wide-eyed at the empty circle in the dusty, dim basement.

* * *

Alt. Y: Lily doesn't manage to hold back Megan from getting all up in the brothers' faces and she even manages to push them away from the circle. Technically, once a transmutation is started it can't really be stopped successfully, and so the youngest Elric ends up getting herself sucked in- _without_ her brothers by her side. She makes it to Amestris all by herself.


	18. Chapter 18

**The end is here! This is official! :OOO**

 **This called for me trying to figure out exactly how long it took for all of this to happen. I mean, I was mildly irritated that I didn't have a set amount of time for "Family History", since it was all rather vague and moving fast.**

 **If only the events written happened, then everyone had about 5 days packed with action. But there's the fact that, on both sides, there was some studying done by all the teenagers, and I feel like the amount they'd supposedly done couldn't be done realistically within the span of those 5 days outside of everything else that happened, especially on Lily's end. I honestly thought she had _at least_ a week in total, as more time seemed to pass by for her than the Elrics. Though that hadn't been what I originally planned, I think it's completely possible for time to be just a teensy bit more sped up in comparison to Amestris. So, if time actually runs at the same rate, then I'd say this entire sequel happened within the span of more like 6 days. But if time's faster on our side, then 5 or 6 days passed for Ed and Al, while to Lily it was more like 9 (I can give my reasoning by PM, if you're wondering why I say that).**

 **Dang.**

 **On with the story, one last _last_ time! :D**

* * *

 _Bzzz!_

Lily flinched as the loud noise of her phone vibrating woke her up. She sighed frustratedly and tiredly as she flipped over on her bed to reach the device. She blinked open her eyes to check what time it was on her alarm clock. It read 7:16, which meant it was actually more like 7:11 since it ran fast. Nonetheless, she groaned at being woken up over an hour before she intended. She'd managed to get into bed at a reasonable time, and had hoped to be able to catch up a bit more on sleep over the weekend. Well, that was ruined. _This better be important,_ she grumbled in her thoughts, sluggishly coming up with insults directed at her phone as she picked it up and unlocked the screen.

It revealed that she had received a text, which was new. She hadn't gotten a text from anyone in over a week, since the usual friends she would message with were Ed and Al, and she hadn't had to alert her mom about anything over text since they'd left.

More than that, it was a text from Megan. She started asking herself how Megan knew her number, when another part of her mind reminded her of how that came to pass a while ago. _How did I forget already? Eh, I'm tired._

It was written in a surprisingly cringe-worthy way considering how smart the youngest Elric was, but it wasn't so odd considering her actual age. Either way, it was asking her to go check the basement for anything they hadn't noticed before.

 _Could she not have said that at a later time today?_ she complained to herself, flipping back over on the bed with phone still in hand. _What time is it over there, anyway?_

Just because she was annoyed, she decided to not answer yet. She didn't know if she would have time to do so today anyway, since she wasn't aware of if there were any plans beyond sleeping in. She never knew on Saturdays.

She left her phone on the same screen and placed it back on her nightstand. Yes, she'd ask about it when she went for her breakfast... or brunch... or even lunch, if she left eating off long enough. Right now, she was determined to get at least a little bit more sleep.

* * *

Since the family apparently had nowhere specific to go to at some point in the day, Lily's mom told her while they were both in the kitchen that she could go to the Elric abode if she so pleased. That meant she just needed to get dressed and choose when to go walk over.

After changing into a lazy yet typical outfit and making a flimsy attempt of smoothing down her hair so it looked presentable, she let her mom know she was going and went for the door. She said bye to her sister on the way, as Di was watching some comedian on Netflix in the living room, and let herself out.

She waved to her mom as she stepped onto the sidewalk (as she was standing at the doorway, watching her daughter until she got out of sight before going back in), and trudged forwards, going on the first walk she'd done by herself in a long time.

Her mind wandered about, going from wondering what Megan could possibly think was still in the basement that was of use to them to how long that moving trunk had been in front of that one house to hoping Mrs. Elric wouldn't be annoyed by her presence to wishing that chihuahua would stop barking every time she passed by its home. She soon turned in to the front yard of the familiar house where Ed and Al lived, though they were gone for... how long was it by now? Felt like forever.

She breathed in and out before knocking on the door. It was kind of weird for her to be out of her house, especially by herself, and so she mildly pleaded for Mrs. Elric to answer quickly. It apparently paid off, as the woman of the house answered the door a minute later.

"Oh, hi, Lily!"

"Hi," she responded on instinct. Before she could explain why she came to this house, she was happily ushered in and she stumbled into the living room.

"Sit down, sit down! Would you like some water?" the Elric mom chirped, ever the hostess.

"Um, no thank you," the younger girl stuttered out, looking down and pushing up her glasses. "I, uh, am here because..." For a moment she suddenly forgot how to word it. She stood there a second until it came back. "Megan asked me to go to the basement again."

The older woman's cheery face visibly dropped a bit, having expected something of the sort but still not completely happy to actually hear it. She nodded and led Lily to the basement, even though both knew she knew where it was.

"Would you like me to go down with you?" she asked, somewhat startling Lily.

"Oh! Um, if you want," the teen replied as the mom opened the door and turned on the light for the stairwell leading to the basement. Mrs. Elric motioned for the girl to go first, but indeed decided to follow her down the steps.

Once Lily had stepped foot into the chilly basement, she anxiously felt for a light switch and flipped it too, filling the underground room with light beyond that of the faded glow coming from the stair light and the small window in the door that led outside. She marveled again at just how similar their house's layout was to her own, though their basement was a lot emptier.

She awkwardly stepped towards the middle of the room, her every movement causing an echo, and she soon heard similar sounds come from behind her. She ignored the other presence for a moment as she turned her head about, studying the objects left in different parts of the floor, some tall enough to require support from the walls in order to not topple over. Seemed just about like any other basement not in use beyond storage for a small quantity of items.

Both knew this room's been used for more than that, though.

Near her feet were the dusty materials and chalk circles the brothers had used for their grand transmutation. She wished she could feel mad about them doing something so stupid, but only felt an ache of sadness instead.

She technically didn't even know them for very long- only, what, a few months?- but that was definitely enough for her.

"Anything particular you were looking for?" Stephanie Elric's voice rang, bringing Lily out of her contemplative state. She hadn't realized she'd basically spaced out. She looked behind her to the woman, who just stood there, blinking at her.

"Not really..." She hummed one continuous note as she tried to think of if there was something else she could say. "Yeah, I really don't know," she admitted, starting to fiddle with a piece of her hair (like she often did) without thinking about it.

"Well, I assure you that I haven't moved anything in here besides a few cans and jars on the shelf," the mom said, looking toward the wall that had a pair of shelves with extra food piled on. "If there is something to find, it should still be here."

Lily nodded and muttered thanks as she returned to gazing about the room and walking around, being careful to not step on anything that wasn't just concrete. She felt unsure and awkward inspecting someone else's basement with no idea what could even be worth taking note of. She was seriously questioning just going along with Megan's order- er, _suggestion_.

"Yeah, I can't see anything," she sighed to the mom of her friends. "Sorry about this."

"Oh, don't worry about it," the Elric replied easily. "If you have time, we could go upstairs to chat for a bit before you go back home."

Lily wasn't much of a person who just chatted with whoever, but it felt wrong to deny Mrs. Elric the company and opportunity to know her sons' friend better. Besides, she felt more comfortable talking with her than with a lot of other adults, and would most likely enjoy the conversation a little. She nodded and stuttered out an affirmation, then both proceeded to return to the staircase back to the main floor.

Lily looked again for the light switch as Mrs. Elric started climbing up the steps, and then just barely started following her after the light was flicked off, when she suddenly heard a noise she didn't recognize. Her eyes widened at the surprise sound, and her head whipped over to the room she had just left, to see the beginning of a fantastic blue light show.

It was like a huge clump of ripped wires smack dab in the middle of the basement, their frayed ends raging visible electricity in blue-colored shocks; or maybe it was more of a Tesla coil laying on the ground, surrounded by giant, violent sparks. A mild wind picked up from the crazy activity, and she could only stand there, incapable of doing anything other than gape.

She barely registered the sound of her hostess hurrying down the steps again to witness the same sight. She stood frozen next to her, even more shocked by the display. It was frightening yet so awe-inspiring.

After a few eternally-long seconds, it began to die down, revealing that the cause of the whole thing wasn't some huge electronic device that exploded or anything remotely similar. No, it was due to a lump in the middle of the room that, even in the darkness that seemed to have returned tenfold after such a bright event, looked suspiciously like a pair of people.

Lily remained as a statue- barely breathing, barely _thinking_ \- but Mrs. Elric hesitated only a second- as she had attempted to comprehend what just occurred- before she moved forward fast toward the sudden new arrivals.

"Boys?" she whispered in disbelief as she fell to her knees, lifting the arm of one of the bodies, which began responding to the movement a few seconds later with a groan. "John? Matt?" she continued, her voice thick and tears coming to her eyes.

They shuffled about more as they attempted to wake up. It turned out she'd been closest to Matt, who had blearily looked at the hand gripping his arm, then moved up to the face of the person. He visibly woke up completely with a gasp and threw himself at her, not holding back at all. She fell at his force and he landed on top of her, but neither cared.

They slowly began to get up after a long hug, just as Matt's older brother stirred and started picking himself up off the ground. John then realized his mom was there and tackled her into a hug much like his sibling had done.

After several seconds, the reunited Elrics heard a hiccup echo through the room, and looked over to realize that Lily was standing there, unmoved from the spot where she had first begun to witness the boys' return. They could not see her face, as the only light in the area came from the stairs and glowed behind her. Her silhouette was just barely visibly shaking like a chihuahua, so it was correctly assumed that she had begun to cry.

She silently wrung her hands anxiously together (and tried to keep her tears silent too) as she tried to decide what to do. She wanted so bad to run up to them and hug them so hard they could barely breathe, but she also didn't want to intrude on the familial moment. _Being with their mom is tons more important than just a friend..._

And she knew people her age generally weren't big on hugging, a lesson drilled into her brain until now she hesitated to try it on anyone unless given permission. She doubted either boy in front of her now ( _they were seriously right in front of her when she thought she might never see them again_ ) was comfortable with a girl glomping them.

Though the room was dark, she could see Mrs. Elric turning to give her a watery smile and nudge her shoulder forward, inviting Lily into the room. Her brain seemed to take the motion as being allowed to not only continue to stand there stupidly, but suddenly cry even harder.

Al started standing up, seeing as Lily apparently wasn't going to move forward anytime soon, and cautiously inched toward her, most likely wondering what he could say to make her calm down. He didn't need to say anything; the moment he was close enough, Lily closed the distance and launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck, even though it required being on her tiptoes. She didn't care about his comfort anymore. She needed this.

He awkwardly stood there instead of completing the hug, just as she expected, but it was amazing and such a relief to have further physical proof that he was actually _there_.

When she felt she had tortured the poor boy enough, she let go with a sniffle and giggle, and then turned to give Ed the exact same treatment. Before she could stop herself, "Thank you" tumbled out her mouth as she held onto the stiff torso of the blond.

Though she couldn't get any other words out, she hoped they knew what she meant. She was grateful that, even if they hadn't listened to her before- maybe she was wrong about the risks, but at this point she couldn't care less about being right- they came _back_.

They came home.

* * *

When Mrs. Elric and Lily were spent and finally brushing away their tears (the latter started complaining with a choked laugh about how her glasses were wet now), Ed and Al said they wanted to go to the hospital as soon as possible. At first, the females thought they meant that as in the brothers needed to be admitted because of some serious injury and thus began to freak out, but the boys assured they only wanted to visit Ryan.

"Can I ride with you?" Lily asked, then suddenly felt bad about the request. Was it really her business to just go around pretending she was part of the family?

Mrs. Elric didn't mind at all, apparently, as she started going back up to the main floor, the teenagers following once the brothers had made sure they had all their things still. "Of course you can! I'll get my keys and meet you three outside."

Ed paused and gave her back a confused look. "Uh, Mom? I can drive now."

She rebutted with a raised eyebrow at him over her shoulder. "Do you _really_ think I'll let you boys out of my sight so soon?"

 _I see her point,_ Lily thought, and then quickly got on her phone to call her mom to ask if she could go with the Elrics- oh, and inform of her friends appearing once again. That was a bit of an important detail.

With permission officially granted by both mothers, Lily shyly followed the family into their car and did her best to not stare at the brothers too much. At least her staring wasn't so odd once they started talking.

"Should we call Dad?" Al asked his mom, who seemed about to reply yes, but then thought better of it.

"How about we leave it as a surprise for when he comes home?" she suggested slyly.

"You're evil, Mom." Ed grinned, clearly amused by the thought of his father's face when he opened the door and found his missing sons back with no explanation yet.

"You should probably tell Alice, though," she added, causing their expressions to drop.

"Do... do we _have_ to do it?" Al asked- or maybe more like whined pathetically. He was still just as scared of his younger sister as ever, after all.

"Yes. I'd rather she learned from you than someone else."

Lily's mouth quirked up on one side upon seeing that the brothers frantically began a game of "Rock, Paper, Scissors", of which Ed eventually lost.

While the elder was mentally preparing himself for the phone call, the younger seemed to remember something and turned to Lily. "We brought you something from Amestris," he explained as he began to dig through his backpack.

She blinked as she processed the statement, and before she knew it he was holding out a necklace.

The pendant hanging on the simple black cord was like nothing she'd ever seen before. It was a delicately thin circle of sterling silver, engraved in blue with a stylistic design that immediately registered as a transmutation circle. Rather than tiny Latin words inscribed around the sides of shapes, there were instead decorative curls and swirls. Though the whole thing was covered in a layer of sparkles, which she wasn't a fan of, the fact that they actually brought her something from wherever they'd been (and it was something pretty and _cool_ ), tugged at her heartstrings.

"That's really for me?" she asked for assurance, and Al nodded with a bit of a blush as he passed it over. She couldn't imagine how weird they must've felt looking at jewelry and trying to guess what she'd like.

"Thank you so much, you guys! You're so sweet!" she gushed, holding the necklace in her own palms reverently. "I'm honored."

"Don't fuss so much over it," Ed grumbled, making sure his face was hidden from her by his hair, as he waited for Megan to answer the phone.

"I'm gonna put it on," she said unnecessarily, throwing the necklace over her head and pulling her thick hair out from underneath, then adjusting the length. She returned to admiring the pendant, still amazed by the gift and its origins. "You guys really made it to Amestris, then?"

"Yep," Al chirped just as his brother froze. The other occupants of the car could just barely hear a faint _"Hello?"_ come from the phone, which was then repeated as Ed still refused to answer.

His mom gave him a look through the rear-view mirror, which prompted him to finally say something, as much as he wanted to just hang up. "Hey, Megan."

There was a pause, then suddenly an explosion of tinny screaming from the device that he now held further away from his ear. He started blurting out stuttered apologies back, and Lily decided maybe it'd be better to stop paying attention to that mess.

"That's _insane!_ " she whispered with a grin to Al, excitement reigning over the urge to punch them for their idiocies (which had returned with a vengeance once her relief over them being totally okay died down). They made it through the Gate! And there was a _whole other world_ on the other side!

"It was really cool; we can tell you some of what it was like later," he answered just as quietly, amused by her bursting emotions.

"Nothing you can say _now?_ " she questioned slyly, moving her eyebrows about. He giggled at her ridiculousness, but then shook his head, and made the hand motion of locking his mouth and throwing away the key. She huffed and put her face into an exaggerated pout, only taking off again once she remembered that Mrs. Elric could probably see her being weird through the rear-view mirror. That was an embarrassing thought.

She glanced over and noticed that the younger brother's face was now pulled into a small frown, as if he was pondering on something he'd rather not. Upon seeing that he had grabbed her attention, he leaned to whisper once again, this time in a more serious manner. "How's Ryan?"

Lily realized they hadn't actually asked about her condition yet... though they could probably guess on possible states, and knew they wanted to go see her no matter which was correct. She sighed silently- completely opposite from the shouting match between Ed and his overseas-sister in the background- and said simply, "She's been awake for a day or so. She wasn't very coherent before, but asked where you guys were anyway."

He noticeably felt a bit guilty and concerned. "What'd you say back?"

"Just that you were somewhere else, but okay. Thanks for not making that a lie," she muttered, staring down at her lap and kicking her feet back and forth. "It was... really hard without you guys, you know. I'm not used to people leaving. And we had no idea if you were alive or... otherwise."

She wasn't usually one to guilt-trip people, but she wanted to get that off her chest and make sure they really understood what they'd done. Maybe from now on, the Elrics would learn to think about consequences just a little bit more. They were so incredibly lucky this time, but surely not the next.

"Yeah, we know, and we're sorry for putting all of you through that," Al eventually answered. "But at least we're here now, and we actually got something out of the trip." His serious expression gave way to a small, knowing smile.

She blinked. "You mean...?"

"Yeah."

Her mouth slowly opened into a gape, glancing between both brothers (even though the elder still had his attention on the call). They were actually able to get something that would help Ryan? Awesome!

He chuckled, and she suddenly realized she must've voiced her thoughts aloud. She slapped her hand over her mouth, but couldn't completely cover up her reddening cheeks. At that moment, the car slowed, and the teens finally paid proper attention to their surroundings, which just so happened to be the hospital parking lot. In just a few minutes, they'd be entering the grand building once again.

Ed had the sudden realization that he and his brother had walked down this hospital hallway more than they ever expected they would, back before the car accident. But now, unlike all those other times, they were striding through the building with a bit of confidence of a brand they hadn't had before. One where they seemed ready to change the world for the better. Well, no one here but Lily knew it, but they'd basically changed history already, accomplishing to go to a parallel universe, just like what was imagined in sci-fi books ever since sci-fi was a concept.

...They weren't the _very first_ to go through to both ends of the Gate, but still.

He glanced over to his mom, who was walking beside them with purpose in very step. She hadn't gone with them to visit Ryan before, but she was now determined to see this whole ordeal through to the end.

He looked to Lily, who walked behind the Elrics. She looked just about as nervous and awkward as she had the first time she'd gone into the hospital with them, but she also had a bit of a smile surfacing on what would be expected to be a blank expression or even a frown. _She's probably just remembering some stupid joke or something._

Al knew better, though; it was possible that she was barely holding back a grin because she was still so happy that her friends were back. She was the kind that became and stayed excited rather easily, so it was not hard to imagine. If that was the case, then they hadn't realized how essential they'd become to her life until they'd disappeared.

Truth was, they were both right. Lily had a bit of spring to her step due to the Elric brothers being by her side again, and she was also thinking of all the stupid stories and jokes to tell them once she had the chance.

Al remembered that they should find the chemical makeup of humans on this side of the Gate again to refresh, and thus borrowed his mom's phone to do just that. It was awesome to use the internet once again.

In time, they finally arrived to the correct room. Ed let out a breath before opening the door.

They came upon a plain bed in which lied the curly-haired girl named Ryan, asleep in peaceful dreams despite the setting. She began to wake up, however, upon the sound of the door closing. She forcibly blinked her eyes several times until she could finally focus on the visitors. Her eyes lit up and a smile ghosted on her face.

"Hey, guys," she greeted quietly. Though she still did not have much energy, it was already becoming easier to formulate complete thoughts and sentences.

"Hey," Ed said awkwardly, then gladly let his little brother step up to say more.

"How do you feel?"

"Like I got hit by a car," she said slowly, cracking a poor excuse of a joke that had her chuckling a bit anyway.

"Well, we're hoping that maybe we could help you with that," Al continued, nervously fidgeting, before both brothers proceeded to pull off their backpacks and scrounge up their special transmutation circles. Once they found them and revealed them, Lily quietly gasped at the sight. Those were very serious-looking arrays. Would they actually work, though?

Both walked over to her bedside and quickly skimmed through the clipboard on her nightstand, hoping to find useful information before they officially began.

"What... are you doing?" Ryan muttered, trying to figure out their actions so far. They did not answer yet, instead mentally calculating how they were going to pull off doing anything that could be of use to the condition of her body. If all else failed, at least they'd also devoted some hours and notes to learning about how automail worked...

Ryan's eyes continued to flicker between their faces and the weird drawings. She suspected they would attempt something, but... what _was_ this? She didn't recognize these things at all, and they certainly didn't look like they _did_ anything besides look cool. The Elrics were more into science than the ...opposite, which was what this looked like. Did they finally crack after all their other ideas failed?

She could barely catch from this distance the apprehensive but hopeful look the girl in the back (her name was Lily, right?) wore while linking her hands together, which made her wonder if she was the one that thought this idea up.

"Stay still," Ed ordered offhandedly as he and Al put the transmutation circles in place. She scrounged up enough energy to give them a mildly skeptical look, but they either didn't notice in their concentration or ignored it.

The brothers apparently seemed pleased with their setup and gave her sort-of-encouraging smiles before clapping and placing their hands on the drawings.

She felt a sudden sensation unlike any other, that both disturbed her but also seemed to be accomplishing something good at the same time. It took over her whole body, and she let out a faint yelp of a scream as she realized she was getting covered by blue _sparks?!_

Blurted noises of joy and alarm rang from the other occupants of the room, but she barely heard them over her own mixed feelings that moved fast yet sluggishly at the same time.

 _What are they_ doing _to me?!_ was her final frantic thought before she only saw black.

* * *

"...Ryan?"

* * *

 **Don't worry, she only passed out. I mean, it would make sense considering how much of a shock that would've been, plus perhaps drained her of her energy. But naw, she's fine (unless your brain decides otherwise, but I'd rather it didn't :P). This just deserved an equally dramatic ending as "Family History". After all: not only was this story intended to end on a cliffhanger, it was _destined_.**

 **Once again, I will say that there are so many ways this could go before, during, _and_ after VH. I'm gonna leave this story here now so I can devote myself to new stories, unless I decided to do a rewrite in the distant future... Probs not, but one can hope. XD**

 **Just to prove my point, this final alternate is an alternate ending to last chapter that leaves a bit of groundwork for a possible way this series could've been continued to a third book. It is a bit reminiscent to the ending of a book I read last summer that was like "OH MY GOSH!"**

* * *

Alternate (Saga) Z:

 _"Let's move," Ed stated firmly, hoping to get the transmutation started before someone else showed up or they had second thoughts._

 _"Come on, Milo," she muttered to her sibling, nudging him to step outside the shed so they wouldn't end up part of the transmutation too._

Rillie and her brother had had enough experience with alchemy to know the outreach of the transmutation really depended on what its purpose was, but nonetheless it was usually safer to just step as far back as one was willing to. Therefore, Milo stood just outside the door, while she was at the doorway- she was shorter, after all, and this let that both of them had view of the proceedings.

There were some final quiet goodbye words and waves, and the Elrics decided to stop wasting time and just activate the circle they'd drawn already.

They nodded to each other before clapping and pressing their hands into the array, causing it to immediately light up, the overarching blue zips and zaps more dramatic than those of any transmutation Rillie and Milo had ever seen before. The grand sight mesmerized the two, though the latter not to the same extent. He was quickly woken up from the reverie when he heard shouts from outside, and he glanced behind him to see that people had just _now_ decided to come into view and march to the shack. He glanced desperately between the brothers and their "visitors", mentally pleading that the light-haired alchemists would manage to complete the transmutation in time.

Unlike her sibling, however, Rillie's attention stayed stuck on the happenings in front of her. She practically felt an invisible tug- not from the swirling breeze that picked up within the shack, but from the fantastically-lit array itself. It seemed to welcome her, even when sparks started to tinge purple instead of blue.

 _Remember how you wanted to see their world for yourself?_

 _The door's right here in front of you._

She knew she shouldn't, but she was once again pondering just _what_ the harm was in moving closer, maybe even going _in_ the circle... It drew her in a little at a time, but she also wanted to fight back fiercely. The internal struggle looked just as much external, from the way that her hair was sent flying by the manipulative wind.

 _WHAT do you have to lose?!_

Before she realized what happened, she had taken a step forward.

The air within the shack suddenly gave her an extra-hard pull, shattering the trance, and she tripped forward further into the room, upon the horror of everyone, including herself.

Before she could manage to leap back to the door, shadow-black strands consumed her and her friends.

* * *

Alt. Z: Rillie accidentally gets sucked into the transmutation meant to transport back to the US.

* * *

 **Eh, less intense than that book, but oh well.**

 **You don't know how perfect it is that I'm finishing today. It's the exact 1st anniversary of when I began to publish chapters for VH. It also happens to be my last day of 11th grade (though I didn't actually go to school today since there's literally nothing to do). From here on, I'm a flippin' senior. ;-; I don't like this.**

 ** _Also_ , a bunch of the fanfic writers that inspired parts of this story posted this week! It was so mind-blowing to look at my updates list, because they typically don't update for months and months and they all decided to put a new chapter or one-shot or whatever _this exact week_ when I had planned for quite a while to post today! Just... oh my gosh, that made me so happy. ;u;**

 **Sorry about all the ANs this chapter, I just have a lot to say. ^^'**

 **Thank you so much for reading and being awesome, and I hope you'll enjoy my future works too! :3 Happy Summer Break! K bai!~ :D**


End file.
